Kingsport Kin
by MusicWriterGirl
Summary: A story of Anne's final month of teaching in Kingsport. When a teacher at Kingsport Ladies College falls ill, Gilbert Blythe takes the temporary teaching position to be near Anne.
1. Chapter 1

It was a chilly spring morning in Kingsport as Anne was walking in the park, enjoying the mysterious mist and the sound of the birds chirping harmoniously. As she walked across a wooden bridge that provided a path across Kingsport Lake (which Anne thought was the most unoriginal and unimaginative name someone could come up with), Anne was stopped by the distant sound of someone calling her name. She turned around to be face-to-face with Gilbert Blythe, whom she hadn't spoken to in over a year.

"Gil!" Anne yelled excitedly as she ran toward him. Gilbert watched Anne's large head of curly, auburn hair sway to the rhythm of the wind, though she was not perfectly visible due to the early morning fog. How Gilbert loved the color of her hair, her freckles, and the twinkling of her grey eyes. As Anne came closer, he expected her to come to a stop, except she continued to run until she found herself wrapped in Gilbert's embrace, her body connected to his.

Gilbert was quite surprised at the sudden and unexpected response on Anne's behalf. He found himself smiling uncontrollably at the fact she had come running toward him, not the other way around. He ran his hand through her red locks of hair as she pulled him in tighter. For a while, the pair remained in their caress until Anne pulled away lightly, her hands drifting down Gilbert's arms to find his hands.

"What are you doing here, Gil?" She asked him, still unable to control her excitement. Finally, someone she cared about was in Kingsport!

"Teaching," he replied matter-of-factly.

"Teaching?" Anne repeated the word as she laughed happily. "You got a teaching position? In the springtime? But what about medical school?"

"I finished my first year of schooling just last week. I took my finals and was planning on heading home until I saw an ad in the paper for a teaching position at Kingsport Ladies College. The mathematics and science teacher, Ms. McKay, is out ill and will not be able to return for the rest of the term, so the school was looking for a person to temporarily hold the position."

"But Kingsport Ladies College does not hire male teachers, Gilbert! However did you get the job?"

"Well, there wasn't much competition, considering that I was the only one who applied. Though the board of trustees was reluctant to accept my application at first, but between their desperateness and Ms. Stacey's convincing, they accepted."

"Gilbert! You do not know how utterly happy I am at this very moment! I feel as if I am absorbed in an unobtainable dream! It will be just like old times, Gil. And you'll finally get the chance to witness the Kingsport snobbery!"

"Yes, Ms. Stacey told me about the haughtiness of this old town. But I am sure that you and I can tackle it together."

"Yes, of course. We'd make a good team, you and I." Anne smiled and gazed up at Gilbert's radiant face, highlighted by the rays of the rising sun. Gilbert's smile reappeared at the comment, as he could not agree more. Then, Anne suddenly realized that she was still holding Gilbert's hands. Blushing at the realization, she pulled away, patting down her dress and clearing her throat. Gilbert put his hands back in his pockets, shrugging slightly, and began walking toward the bridge, where Anne was headed in the first place.

"You don't have any plans tonight, do you, Anne? Ms. Stacey was planning on taking both of us out to dinner at the Pringle Hotel to catch up on everything."

"That sounds lovely! Where are you staying while you're in Kingsport?"

"I am staying in the room and board house at the College. I assume that that is where you stay?"

"It is! Oh, Gil, you have no idea how joyful I am that I will have someone else with me for the rest of the term! I'm afraid that I've grown so lonely here, without you or Diana or Marilla or Rachel to keep me company. Ms. Stacey is dear to me, but really, it just isn't the same."

"Yes, it's been pretty lonely at Dalhousie, too. I have a small circle of friends though."

"I assume Christine is in that circle of friends," Anne said regretfully.

Gilbert's mouth dropped open slightly at the comment. Was Anne Shirley jealous of Christine Stuart? Did she care after all?

"Actually, Christine is engaged to Robert Jones, a fellow from Calgary."

"Really?" Anne replied, internally relieved that Gilbert was not still with the stuffy, affluent city-girl. "But there must be someone else," she insisted as she raised her eyebrows, speaking her thoughts without thinking beforehand. Gilbert was too handsome and smart to not be courting any girls.

"No, Anne," Gilbert ensured her, placing his hands on her shoulders, which caused her to turn around and face him. "There is no one else. There has never been anyone else."

The couple continued sauntering down the until Gilbert thought of something: why was Anne so concerned about who he was courting? "Anne," he asked quietly, "why did you think that I was courting somebody?"

Anne, caught off guard, had to stop and think for a moment about how to respond without seeming romantic. "I guess that I just thought that a man of your...caliber would be courting someone, that's all."

"No. I'm holding off on romance for a little while," Gilbert admitted.

Anne knew that she had thwarted Gilbert's attempts at romance, and though she cared about him and appreciated him more and more each day, in her mind, she still didn't have the same feelings that he had for her when he proposed. They were just still friends, she assured herself, and would only remain friends.

If only Anne Shirley had known how wrong she was, and what was in store for her over the course of the next few months to follow.


	2. Chapter 2

Anne Shirley checked her watch. It was 5:58pm, just around the time when Ms. Stacey was set to arrive to pick her up for dinner. Anne looked at herself in the mirror one final time and made a few final fixes to her hair, which was styled into a loose updo with several locks hanging down, framing her face. She knew that Gilbert particularly liked her hair in such a fashion, though she managed to convince herself that Gilbert had nothing to do with the way she had chosen to style her hair. After adjusting her string of pearls until they laid just right on her neck, Anne grabbed her shawl and walked out of the door into the hallway to find Ms. Stacey.

"Why, Anne, I was just coming for you. Don't you look enchanting tonight!" Ms. Stacey said.

Anne flashed a smile at Ms. Stacey's complement. "Where is Gilbert? Is he still joining us this evening?" Anne asked as innocently and indifferently as possible.

"Yes, of course. I told him to meet us in the foyer at six o'clock sharp," Ms. Stacey replied as the two walked downstairs and into the entryway. "We've done all of our corresponding by letter, though. But, knowing Gilbert, I'm sure he'll be right on time." Sure enough, Gilbert was waiting, standing casually and daydreaming about what he would like to happen that evening.

"Gilbert!" Ms. Stacey yelled delightfully, interrupting his thoughts. "My, how much you have grown up!" She complemented while shaking his hand. Gilbert greeted Ms. Stacey pleasurably, though his eyes remained on Anne.

"Hello, Gil," Anne said as she smiled up at him. The pair stared at one another for several seconds, zoning out on the realities of the world an in on each other.

Ms. Stacey picked up on the exchange between Gilbert and Anne and grinned. Though she had never told anyone, she believed that Gilbert and Anne were destined to be together and would make a fine couple. After several seconds, she asked, "shall we head on our way?" She continued to smile playfully at the couple, though she hated to interrupt their subtle romantic gestures.

"Yes, yes, of course," Anne clarified, clearing her throat. Had she been staring at Gilbert Blythe? In front of Ms. Stacey, of all people? Anne suddenly became rapidly embarrassed regarding the situation and shot Gilbert a nasty glare, as if telling him, "why would you let me look at you like that in public?". Gilbert chuckled, extremely excited about the progress being made with Anne. So far, she had ran up to him and hugged him, seemed concerned about his being with Christine, and stared at him. However, he knew better than to get his hopes up prematurely. She was probably just excited to see him in a friendship way, not in a romantic way.

The trio then walked out of the boardinghouse to find the carriage driver patiently waiting for them. "The Pringle Hotel, please," Ms. Stacey informed the driver as she climbed into the carriage first, purposefully setting Gilbert and Anne up to sit next to one another.

"So, Gilbert, how was your first year of medical school?" Ms. Stacey said, beginning the conversation.

"Quite well. Dalhousie is quite different than Queens, but I managed to adjust fairly well."

"Yes. You and Anne are the two brightest pupils that I have ever encountered in my history of teaching," Ms. Stacey pointed out. "I am sure that the board of trustees will be equally as pleased with your performance, Gilbert."

"Well, one can only hope to do as well as Anne does," Gilbert stated, smirking at his statement. Anne blushed at his comment, evidently embarrassed by his flirtatious manners.

"Yes Gilbert, Anne has done a splendid job so far this school year. I suppose she told you about her book?" Ms. Stacey was aware that Anne and Gilbert had not been in contact with one another frequently and that Gilbert would not likely know of Anne's book, but she couldn't help posing the question to see what would arise of it.

"Your book?" Gilbert repeated, looking at Anne amusingly. "Anne, you wrote a book?" Gilbert's tone of voice made it seem that he doubted Anne's capabilities of writing, though he really was quite excited at her accomplishment. He simply could not resist teasing her and provoking an argument.

"I most certainly did write a book, Mr. Blythe." Anne held her head high with her chin pointed, putting on an air of superiority, which had sort of become a habit around Gilbert.

"Well, I'd be honored if I could have the pleasure of reading it, Anne," Gilbert suggested, as he desperately wanted to know what, and more importantly whom Anne had written about.

"Gilbert Blythe, I wouldn't let you lay a finger on my book, let alone read it. And after your critique of Avril's Atonement, I will never, ever trust you again to read some of my stories," Anne said teasingly, bringing up past situations that both she and Gilbert wished they could forget.

Gilbert desperately wanted to find out more about this book of hers, but decided that he would not likely receive any more information about it from Anne. He made a mental note to himself to ask Ms. Stacey about her writing later, when she wasn't around. Changing the subject, Gilbert asked, "So, Ms. Stacey, what are the details of Kingsport Ladies College, anyway? I'm afraid that I didn't do much research before applying for the position," Gilbert admitted.

"Hm, where to begin? There are fifty girls in the institution, and fifteen of them are boarders. Each and every one of the day students is a Pringle or half-Pringle. The only non-Pringles are some of the boarders, though there are only seven, which makes forty-three of the students Pringles."

"Only seven non-Pringles? When you said many Pringles attended the school, I expected that you meant five, not forty-three! How are there so many people from the same line of heritage who all live in one town?"

"Anne was just as surprised as you are about this, Gilbert. But I'm sure that you will benefit well from the challenge of dealing with the Pringle clan. It may be frustrating, but as Anne can likely attest to, it is quite fun to mock the Pringle's reactions to anything determined by a non-Pringle."

"I don't know how on earth you've survived here, Anne," Gilbert said with a chuckle.

"Well, I must say that my temper and stubbornness have actually proved to be valuable in this particular circumstance," Anne replied.

Gilbert and Ms. Stacey laughed as they pulled up to the Pringle Hotel, which was a fancy stone building with ivy growing up the side of the walls on the exterior and a brick driveway winding up to the inn's main entrance. The hotel was primarily a place for visitors and tourists to stay, though it also had a restaurant that was well known for its fine cuisine and delectable dishes.

The carriage driver dropped Anne, Ms. Stacey, and Gilbert off at the main entrance of the building, and they went inside. The threesome was seated in a large room with magnificently tall windows that looked out onto the sea, as well as tinkling crystal chandeliers and fanciful decorations.

"I have never been in the Pringle Hotel before, Ms. Stacey, and it is absolutely exquisite and grand beyond measure. However, I shouldn't be too surprised, considering that it is run by Pringles," Anne commented.

"Yes, you can expect anything of the Pringles to be expensive and materialistic," Ms. Stacey joked.

"Are the Pringles really as horrible as you two claim them to be?" Gilbert inquired.

"Don't worry, Gilbert. You'll find out soon enough!" Ms. Stacey chuckled.

After a few minutes of waiting, the waitress, who was very pretty with 'nut brown hair' and brown eyes made her way over to their table. She wore an apron with the name 'Pringle' embroidered on it in a cursive font. "Good evening. My name is Clara Pringle. What would you like to order tonight?" Though Clara Pringle was hypothetically addressing Gilbert, Anne, and Ms. Stacey, she kept her eyes focused on Gilbert- a gesture that did not go unnoticed to Anne.

"I would like the pot pie, please," Anne said, which forced the waitress to look at her instead of Gilbert. As Anne's anger grew, her eyes looked as if they were popping out of her head and her posture became overly-formal.

"I'll have the same thing as her," Gilbert thoughtlessly decided, not making eye contact with the annoying Clara-girl. Though he kept a straight face, he was secretly glowing with happiness on the inside for the jealousness that Anne was presenting in the situation.

"Oh, I'm sure you will like the pot pie, sir. In fact, I prepare them myself. In fact, you should come tomorrow and watch me make them; I would be a very talented homemaker, or so the other Pringles say," Clara said, smiling slyly. She had attempted to play the particular trick on many men before in order to lure them in.

"I will have the potato salad, please," Ms. Stacey proclaimed, saving Gilbert from having to respond to the girl's obvious flirting.

"Hmph. Your food will be prepared soon," Clara said with a hint of rudeness in her tone as she turned away superiorly, not used to being turned down by such handsome boys.

After Clara left, Anne giggled, "Well Gilbert, you now have an idea of what the Pringles are really like!"

Author's Note: Sorry that I'm not getting chapters on as quickly as I'd like to. I have three tests next week on the same day, and I have applications for honors/AP classes due in a few days, too. Next weekend I should have lots of time to post more chapters, though, as it is *supposedly* a no-homework weekend! :)


	3. Chapter 3

"Well, Gilbert, Katherine Brooke, the headmistress at KLC, wanted me to tell you about all the policies and details of the institute," Ms. Stacey began. "I guess that now would be as good of a time as ever. And I am sure that Anne would like to add in her two cents as well."

Anne flashed a smile and nodded her head at Ms. Stacey's suggestion.

"You will find that most of the girls at Kingsport Ladies College are capable of a high level of achievement," Anne began, "but a lot of them will take advantage of you at first, considering you are new and relatively inexperienced compared to most of their teachers. The best thing to do is simply to persevere and not let the girls get in the way of your instruction."

"That is a very efficient strategy," Ms. Stacey agreed. "And don't hesitate to be strict with the students when they get out of hand."

"You may need to work on that, Gilbert. You do have a tendency to be nice to everybody," Anne pointed out.

"Fine. I'll work on my meanness, if it's that much of a problem!" Gilbert replied.

"Just don't work on it with me!" Anne laughed.

"Of course not. It's too hard to be mean to someone like you, Anne," Gilbert said as he gazed at Anne thoughtfully.

"Also, Gil, I have some more extremely valuable advice for you," Anne said, her eyes twinkling.

"And what would that be, Anne?" Gilbert asked, grinning.

"Well, never throw a box with unknown contents into the stove, be prepared to find reptiles in your desk, and do not believe the names that the girls use to introduce themselves." Anne chuckled at all of the memories of her first days at Kingsport. Though they were extremely depressing at the time, now that she looked back on it, Anne had a different perspective on all of the tricks and pranks that the students played on her during the beginning of the school year.

"You went through all that, Anne? I'm so sorry," Gilbert said sincerely. "But I'm sure that the students are fond of you now, aren't they?"

"Well, I can't deny that their opinion of me has...improved," Anne said.

"I can only hope that I will have decent luck. What exactly happened with the box and the stove, anyway? And the reptile? And what names did the girls use? I'm curious to know all of these stories now that you've peaked my interest," Gilbert said.

"Well, I guess I could tell you, although it is somewhat embarrassing," Anne said. "The stove incident occurred when Myra and Jen Pringle- two of my students- brought in a box to class. Now, I assumed that the parcel contained food, as they had been smuggling food into class nearly everyday. So, without first verifying the contents of the box, I demanded that they put it in the stove. Little did I know that the box contained firecrackers, and needless to say, the stove caught on fire just moments later. Another student named Essie fainted as the smoke filled the air, and I had to lift her up and out of danger, as well as safely help all of the other girls out of the classroom. Thankfully, little damage was done, and everyone was safe."

"I didn't know that your accomplishments including saving your students lives from a fire, Anne. That's a pretty impressive achievement," Gilbert complemented.

Ms. Stacey picked up on Gilbert's flirtatious actions and decided not to interrupt the discourse between the two. Though Anne and Gilbert had excluded her form the conversation, Ms. Stacey didn't mind in the least. In fact, she took pleasure in watching the pair talk back and forth. It wasn't just Gilbert mooning over Anne now, she noted.

"It's far from that, truthfully. If I had not told the girls in the first place to put the box in the stove, the ordeal would never have happened!" Anne said regretfully.

"It is mighty heroic of you to put other's lives before yours during a crisis. I don't know if I would have been able to do the same thing in such a circumstance," Gilbert praised again.

Anne blushed as she realized the point Gilbert was trying to make. She did not know what to say in response to Gilbert's flirting. Anne looked at Ms. Stacey to see how she was responding to Gilbert's actions. She was surprised to see Ms. Stacey trying to hold back a laugh.

Ms. Stacey is picking up on everything! Anne thought, panicking at the realization. She immediately glared at Gilbert and decided to try to seem impartial to him for the rest of the evening. The last thing that Anne wanted to do was to lead Ms. Stacey to believe that she had feelings for Gilbert! Which, she tried to convince herself, she didn't, anyway.

Then, Clara stormed up to the table, preventing Anne from having to respond to Gilbert's flirting. "I'm sorry to inform you that we only had enough ingredients to make one pot pie," Clara said smugly. "First priority always goes to the gentleman. I'm afraid you are out of luck, miss," Clara informed Anne with a smirk as she handed the pot pie to Gilbert. "The chef has prepared you some cranberries as a substitute."

"This is simply outrageous, Clara. If the manager of the Pringle Hotel heard about this nuisance, I'm sure he wouldn't be pleased," Anne proclaimed, scrunching her nose. "It is quite unprofessional to serve someone a dish that they did not order."

"He would not. And my father just so happens to be the manager," Clara replied superiorly.

"Well, Clara, I..."

Gilbert interrupted Anne mid-sentence as he placed his hand on top of hers. The last thing Gilbert wanted was for his lovely evening with Anne to be ruined by her temper and stubbornness. Anne shuttered at the unexpected feeling and looked at Gilbert. He looked very compassionate and sweet at the moment, his face serious and concerned. Anne looked at him with an expression of shock as a result of his gesture. She tried to emphasize her disgust because, she reminded herself, she did not like Gilbert in that way.

"Anne, please take my pot pie. I'd be happy to simply not eat anything. Besides, I'm really not that hungry this evening," Gilbert stated. Though Gilbert was extremely hungry, he couldn't let himself eat a nice meal when Anne only had plain cranberries on her plate.

"Gilbert, you are the most generous person in the universe," Anne said, looking at him thoughtfully. "But I can't accept. You deserve it more than anyone."

"Will you at least split it with me, Anne?" Gilbert exclaimed hopefully.

"Only if you're willing."

Gilbert took the reply as a 'yes' and began to cut his pot pie in half. "Here is half of the pot pie, Anne." He placed it on Anne's plate.

"I know for a fact that you like cranberries, Gilbert. Here. Take some so you won't be hungry." Anne place half of her serving of cranberries on Gilbert's plate.

"Thank you, Anne. Now, Clara, your food shortage problem is resolved," Gilbert proclaimed teasingly.

Clara plunked Ms. Stacey's plate of potato salad down onto the table with a thud. "I sincerely hope that you enjoy your food," Clara snickered as she strutted away.

"I'm sure we will, thank you," Anne stated loudly, pointing her chin. How tired Anne was growing of the Pringles! And there was still a month of school left! It wasn't until staying in Kingsport that Anne realized how kind and hospitable the people of Avonlea really were. "Gilbert," she continued, "why on Earth did you insist on taking this position? It must be the worst decision you have ever made in your life!"

"Don't worry, Anne. I have my reasons," Gilbert chuckled.

"Well, they better be very good reasons for the price you have to pay."

"They are very good reasons, Anne. Very good reasons indeed. Now I'm going to try this pot pie and see if it is as good as Clara claims it to be." Gilbert said, changing the subject, as he didn't want Anne to know his exact reasons yet.

"I highly doubt it. The food that I have tasted throughout my time in Kingsport leaves little to be desired," Anne said.

"It's decent, I guess," Gilbert decided after eating a bite. "But it's nothing noteworthy. What do you think, Anne?"

"It's alright. But I guess I've gotten used to eating mediocre meals by now. Oh, how I long for some of Marilla's good food. I haven't had a good, home-cooked meal since the last time I was at Green Gables."

"Don't worry, Anne. There is only a month until we return to Avonlea, and then, you will have home-cooked meals galore."

"Ms. Stacey, how is your potato salad?" Anne inquired upon realizing that she and Gilbert had totally excluded Ms. Stacey from their conversation.

"It is pretty good, though I must say that the best cooking I have ever tasted must have been Marilla's, Anne. Do you remember that time when I came to your house to tell you about Queens, and Marilla invited me to stay for dinner? And you forgot to put the cover over the pudding, and..."

"Oh, Ms. Stacey, do you have to bring this up now?" Anne said. "How embarrassed I was at that very moment!"

"You forgot to put the cover over the pudding, and then what happened?" Gilbert asked, wanting to know the rest of the story.

"And I found a mouse in it! I had meant to tell Marilla, but then Ms. Stacey knocked on the door and there was no opportunity to. And as Marilla served dessert, I decided that I had to tell her about the mouse. I would never have been able to live with myself if I allowed Ms. Stacey, Marilla, and Matthew to eat something with dead mouse in it!"

"So then," Ms. Stacey began, "as I put the fork up to my mouth, Anne yelled to me, 'don't eat it, Ms Stacey!'. Marilla looked vexed until Anne explained why exactly she didn't want me to eat the dessert in the first place. At that point, I couldn't help myself from laughing. Soon enough, everyone else started laughing as well. Anne, do you remember what you said after that?"

"I am fairly certain that I said, 'well, I suppose in the end it was a romantic way to perish, for a mouse'." Anne laughed wholeheartedly at the memory of her ever-so-frequent mistakes.

Gilbert grinned at the story. He had always gotten a kick out of Anne and her mistakes- ever since he had first heard the gossip that she had called Mrs. Lynde 'fat' and 'ugly'. It was from that moment on that he became quite interested in Anne.

"Are there any more of these funny moments that I never heard about?" Gilbert asked.

"There are plenty- way too many to count!" Anne concluded. "Did I ever tell you about the time that I dyed my hair green? I think that that was before you arrived in Avonlea, Ms. Stacey."

"I never heard that story," Gilbert said.

"Neither did I." Ms. Stacey chimed in.

"Why in heaven's name would you dye your hair...green?" Gilbert asked. He was already found the story quite amusing.

"Well, I didn't mean to dye it green, of course. I was intending to dye it a raven black color, just like Diana's."

"What would make you do such a thing? Your hair is a beautiful shade of red!" Ms. Stacey commented.

"I absolutely despised my hair when I was younger. Well, I still despise my hair, though I try not to think of its color as much as I used to. But do you want to know what the last straw was that caused me to dye my hair?" Anne said.

"What?" Gilbert and Ms. Stacey said simultaneously.

"It was my first day of school, and Gilbert was sitting across the aisle from me. He reached over and whispered, "hey, Carrots! Carrots!" He then reached his hand over and yanked my braid because I didn't respond at first. That infuriated me excruciatingly, and I let my temper get the better of me...again. So...I took my slate and cracked it over his head in my anger."

"Oh, Anne! Is that why you held a grudge against Gilbert for all that time? Because he called you Carrots?" Ms. Stacey burst out laughing.

"I'm afraid so. Though I don't quite know why he didn't hold a grudge against me!" Anne said. "And Gilbert, your comment made me officially decide that my hair was a curse. So, I decided to dye it so that no one would tease me over it ever again. I purchased hair dye from a peddler that Marilla and I met on the road just a few days after the incident and dyed my hair. Oh, how excited I was about having black hair! That is, until I looked in the mirror and it was green."

"Anne Shirley, you are one for trouble!" Ms. Stacey couldn't stop laughing.

"I'm afraid so. But such incidents are fun to recall several years later!" Anne said.

"I'm sorry that I caused you all that trouble, Anne. If only I knew that just one simple word- carrots- would cause you to go and dye your hair..." Gilbert looked ashamed at what he had done.

"Please don't worry about it now, Gil! It was so long ago. At the time, I despised you for teasing me, but it was my temper that really caused me to dye my hair."

"Is that why you were absent from school for a few days? And you came back with very short hair?" Gilbert concluded, piecing the facts together.

"Yes, it was. Marilla cut my hair so it was shoulder-length. We washed it several times to get as much of the green color out as possible. What a horrible situation that was. Though I hated red hair, green was even worse! But there was one good thing about that day. It was the day when Marilla told me that I would stay at Green Gables."

"Well, I guess that made up for the green hair, then!" Ms. Stacey exclaimed.

Your hair was very beautiful when it was short, Anne. But thank goodness I didn't risk telling you that. You probably would have gone and purchased a wig from another peddler to make it longer!" Gilbert joked. He gazed at Anne warmly, his eyes on her stunning auburn hair.

Anne blushed at Gilbert's complemented. Though she tried very hard not to, Anne couldn't help but smile slightly at the notion that Gilbert liked her hair. Anne flushed even more when she noticed that Gilbert was staring at her with a dreamy look in his eyes. Anne began to feel consumed by the intimacy of the moment but forced herself to snap out of it before Ms. Stacey could notice. She quickly tried to think of a topic to change the conversation. Upon noticing that everyone had finished their dinner, Anne asked, "Ms. Stacey, are you going to order any dessert?"

Ms. Stacey quickly glanced at her watch and then said, "I would ordinarily love to, but I'm afraid that I must be going. It is already nearly eight o'clock, and I have other business to attend to." Ms. Stacey desperately tried to hold back a smile. She didn't really have other business to attend to; she simply wanted to leave Anne and Gilbert alone. Ms. Stacey could tell by the way the pair had exchanged glances throughout dinner that they wanted some time to share with each other.

"But Ms. Stacey, I can't be left here alone with..." Anne raised her eyebrows. Gilbert smiled extensively at the knowledge that he and Anne would be alone and could enjoy the rest of the evening together.

Ms. Stacey was no fool. She knew that Anne was only trying to hide her feelings. She had been staring at Gilbert awfully frequently, Ms. Stacey observed.

"I know that you two will enjoy yourselves. I'm sorry to leave so suddenly," Ms. Stacey said, standing up from her chair. "But I urge you to order dessert anyway. I heard that they have very good plum pudding!"

"Well, alright then," Anne sighed, pretending to give in, though she was fairly happy at her former teacher's decision to leave early so that she could spend some alone time with Gilbert. Anne blushed at the thought that Ms. Stacey was setting her up to be alone with Gilbert. She must still think that I like him in a romantic way, Anne thought. But she did not like Gilbert! Gilbert was only a chum. Gilbert had always been just a chum. It was the truth, wasn't it? It had to be the truth. This was Gilbert she was talking about, not some tall, handsome, romantic man from Halifax whom she had always dreamed of marrying. But Anne's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice in her head- one that did not belong to herself. But people's ideals change sometimes, the voice reminded Anne. Diana had said those words to Anne once, right before she left to go to Kingsport. At the time, Diana's advice had hardly seemed possible. But now, it seemed to describe Anne's situation entirely. Had all of her time away from Gilbert made her realize how much she truly liked him in a romantic way? Or maybe her feelings were untrue simply because it had been so long since she had last seen Gilbert. How Anne wished Diana were here to help her sort her feelings out.

"..have a good rest of the evening!" Ms. Stacey continued. Anne suddenly realized that she had zoned out of the entire conversation. "Oh, and Ms. Pringle, here is the money for the bill. It is enough to cover the meal, the desserts, and a tip," Ms. Stacey said, handing some money to Clara.

As Anne looked at Ms. Stacey to bid her goodbye, Ms. Stacey winked at her, which was followed by a quick glance at Gilbert, as if she trying to imply something. Anne felt her cheeks flush yet another time.

Ms. Stacey chuckled to herself as she walked out of the door to the Pringle Hotel. Her plan had worked just as she had suspected: Anne and Gilbert were taking the steps to be back together. As she walked down the brick pathway, she could see inside of the dining room where Anne and Gilbert sat across from one another. Ms. Stacey's curiosity overruled her curtesy at that moment as she glanced into the window to see what was happening. She was rewarded with the sight of Anne and Gilbert holding each other's hand and looking at each other intently, just like two love birds. Ms. Stacey burst out laughing at the sight and couldn't wait to see what the rest of the month had in store for the blossoming sweethearts.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to finish this chapter! It took me a while to come up with an idea and put it into the right words. Hopefully the length of it will make up for the time it took for me to write it. Another chapter will go up as soon as possible (I already have most of it written!).


	4. Chapter 4

As Anne and Gilbert continued to gaze lovingly into each other's eyes, Clara, unbeknownst to the couple, walked up to the table to take orders for dessert. "Ahem," Clara cleared her throat obviously, trying to make her presence known. "AHEM!" she repeated, loudly enough so that Gilbert and Anne would take notice.

Anne was the first to pull back from the moment. "S...sorry..." she stammered, slightly embarrassed for being so taken with Gilbert in public.

"Will you just order your dessert already?" Clara stated bluntly. "I cannot wait all night for you two to finish staring at each other for hours on end."

"Well, I honestly have no idea what I want yet. What about you, Gil?" Anne chuckled and winked at Gilbert, intending to make Clara wait for an exceptionally long time.

Gilbert, who knew the game that Anne was playing, chimed in. "Me neither, Anne. We will have to go through the menu and decide what we both like. Let's start with lemon pie. Do you like lemon pie, Anne?"

"I do love lemons, though I am afraid that I'm not very fond of them in pie. What about you, Gil?" Anne snorted with delight from teasing Clara.

"I agree with you. Lemonade is amazing; lemon pie is not. Well, how about apple cake? I, for one, love it."

"I, for one, do not love it," Anne replied. "I'm not in the fruit mood tonight, Gilbert."

"Well, I guess we shall skip discussing the strawberry ice cream or blueberry muffins."

"How about chocolate cake, Gil? Doesn't that sound absolutely delicious tonight?" Anne asked.

"That wouldn't be my first choice. Plum pudding, however, sounds very delectable."

"Now that you mention it, I think it does. Isn't that what Ms. Stacey recommended that we order in the first place?"

"Yes, it was."

"Well, we have decided on ordering plum pudding, miss," Gilbert told Clara.

"Your dessert will be out shortly," Clara mumbled under her breath.

After Clara left, Gilbert decided to comment on Anne's rather flirtatious gestures, which had pleasantly surprised him. "During dinner, Ms. Stacey sure picked up on the way that you were looking at me!" he said, addressing the frequent glances that he received from Anne that made his heart melt.

"I haven't a clue what you are talking about!" Anne said, scrunching up her nose.

"I saw you gazing at me, Anne."

"Well, if you insist that I did, I assure you that it was not intended. And how could you tell that Ms. Stacey picked up on it?" Anne snapped back.

"I saw her wink at you and then look at me."

"Was it really that obvious?" Anne asked as she frowned with disappointment.

"I'm afraid it was."

"Oh. Well, you were looking at me a lot, too, now that I think of it. I guess we are both to blame."

Gilbert laughed and added, "I have enjoyed dinner so far. You know, I forgot how much fun it is to...spend time with you." He stared at Anne intimately as he slowly reached out for her hand, which was conveniently resting on the table. He took it into his grasp softly and squeezed it.

Anne blushed at the gesture. She did not let go of Gilbert's hand, much to Gilbert's surprise, and to her own as well. She liked the way Gilbert's large and callused hand felt in contrast to her small and soft one and the way his presence jolted her inside. Stop thinking of Gilbert in such romantic ways. You definitely do not like him in any way but a friend, Anne attempted to convince herself.

Meanwhile, Gilbert was thrilled at holding Anne's hand. How stunning she looks this evening, he thought. How I just want to run my fingers through her air and kiss her freckled cheeks.

"You know, you look beautiful tonight," Gilbert said in a whisper while he still clutched Anne's hand, his voice suddenly becoming soft. "Your emerald green dress...it brings out the exquisite color of your hair."

Anne looked up from her gaze downward and into Gilbert's eyes. He was staring at her intently, his eyes twinkling with desire. She unconsciously returned Gilbert's gaze with a similar expression on her face.

"I want you to know that I'm...sorry for not responding to any of your letters that you wrote me. And how I blew you off all last summer," Anne admitted.

"I was beginning to think that you didn't care, Anne," Gilbert murmured, his expression suddenly becoming sorrowful.

"I do care, Gil. I care about you right now more than ever before. I mean that," Anne said sincerely as she squeezed his hand.

Gilbert shuddered at the words. Anne cared about him. He could tell by the look on her face that she was being heartfelt and truthful.

Just as Gilbert was about to reply, Clara came and interrupted their intimate moment.

"Your dessert is ready," she stated monotonously, sliding the plum pudding carelessly across the table as she turned around and left with fury.

"I remember the first time you had ice cream. It was at that Sunday school picnic at the Barry's house." Gilbert recalled.

"Yes. But the memory of that day that sticks out even more in my mind is when I beat you in that three-legged race."

"I would have beaten you if it weren't for Moody!" Gilbert insisted.

"I don't believe it! And, I managed to win with Diana on my team!" Anne reminded him.

"I never forgave myself for that moment. But even though I lost the race, that day was the best day of my life," Gilbert declared.

"Why?" Anne inquired.

"Because it changed my life."

"Was it your first time eating ice cream, too?" Anne giggled.

"No. It was something even more luscious than ice cream."

"Was it Mrs. Allen's cake? If I remember correctly, her cake was undeniably delicious."

"It wasn't food." Gilbert stated.

"Then what on Earth would it be?" Though Anne had her suspicions about what Gilbert was talking about, she wanted to hear him say it himself.

"It was meeting you," Gilbert admitted. Anne's heart fluttered at his comment. "It was your competitiveness and your intelligence and your beauty and even your red hair that made me..."

"That made you...that made you what?" Anne's voice was shaking out of anxiousness to hear his next words.

Gilbert dropped his voice to a husky, nearly inaudible whisper. "That made me..."

Clara interrupted Gilbert mid-sentence as she marched back over to the table. "Again, I am so sorry to interrupt, but I forgot to bring you forks," Clara said as she dropped them on the table. "Not that either of you would have noticed, considering you are so involved with one another."

When Gilbert and Anne didn't reply to her comment, Clara snorted and walked away. It is so ridiculous that a handsome man is courting such a homely-looking girl, she thought. He is so dashing and good-looking that he must be from Halifax. I will do whatever is in my power to snatch him from that redheaded girl and make him mine.

Gilbert, meanwhile, was in the middle of trying to decide how to tell Anne how he felt. He wanted to tell Anne that he loved her, but he had only reunited with her for two days! He could not risk losing her again over his strong feelings.

"Gil...say it. Say the words..." Anne pleaded, as she was growing impatient from the waiting.

"...that made me want to...get to know you," Gilbert understated his feelings drastically, attempting to show little emotion so that Anne would not know of his true feelings...yet.

"Get to know me?" Anne echoed, feeling a surge of disappointment rush through her.

Gilbert, seeing Anne's look of disappointment, assumed that he had said too much. "Anne...did I say something wrong? I am really sorry, Anne...Anne...please say something..."

"Did you say something wrong?" Anne repeated angrily. "You only wanted to get to know me? That's it? Well, you really do know how to hurt one's feelings unendurably."

"Anne...that's not what I meant at all..." Gilbert said, trying to calm her down.

"Then why would you say it? It obviously was what you meant. Don't you dare try to take it back now, Mr. Blythe. Now you must bear the guilt of having hurt me undeniably from your bitter words." Anne stood up and began walking away, when Gilbert placed his hand on her shoulder, causing her to stop in her tracks. She turned around abruptly to see a disheartened Gilbert staring at her lovingly, his eyes demonstrating his desperateness.

"Anne...please..." Gilbert whispered. Anne felt herself jolt at the words and for a split second wanted to lean into Gilbert and...

But Anne cut her thoughts off suddenly and forced herself to readdress what Gilbert had just said.

"You hurt my feelings, Gilbert," Anne said, increasing her volume, "and I hate you!" She was screaming now, her face red with fury and her hair to match. In the midst of her emotions, she picked up the plate of plum pudding and a fork, scooped up the pudding with the fork, and catapulted the dessert straight at Gilbert. Anne's perfect aim allowed it landed with a splat on Gilbert's face, splattering onto his clothes and in his hair.

Anne immediately turned around and stormed out of the Pringle Hotel, somewhat embarrassed for her actions, but at the same time, angry at Gilbert for leading her on. He really doesn't care about me. He only cares in a friendship way. And now he must despise me for ruining his clothing! I have ruined everything, Anne thought to herself as she flounced back to the boardinghouse.

At the same time, Gilbert was contemplating his actions. He did not care one bit about his outfit or appearance at the moment; he was concerned about the fact that he caused Anne, yet again, to hate him. In fact, he had been mild with his words so that she would not be upset with him, but it turned out to be quite the contrary. Did she want him to say he loved her? But that wasn't like Anne! Gilbert could not decide what to think at the moment. As his anger continued to build, he left the Pringle Hotel without even bothering to wipe up the pudding on his face. Gilbert didn't care about anything in the world accept Anne in that moment. What if his plan wouldn't work after all? What if his friendship with her was done...forever?

Meanwhile, Clara had stood nearby the table, quietly watching the scene unfold. Not only is that girl plain-looking, but she also has quite an irritating temper, Clara concluded from the situation. Now that the young, handsome man is obviously done with her, it is my turn to intervene. Yes. The next day, Clara decided to set out and try to learn more about the new man in town and take him from the redhead once and for all.

At this point, if you are following along to the story, please review! Reviews give me the momentum and encouragement to keep writing. It would mean a lot to me! In the meantime, the next chapter should be up by Sunday!


	5. Chapter 5

Anne marched back to the boardinghouse in the dark, angry about the ending to the once promising evening. "My temper always gets the better of me!" Anne thought to herself. "And now Gilbert will despise me for it. I should never have flung my dessert at him! I will have to apologize to him as soon as he returns back to the boardinghouse."

Meanwhile, it dawned on Gilbert, who had just left the restaurant, that he had no idea how to return to his lodging. It was pitch black outside, and there was no way that he was going to spend the night roaming around aimlessly trying to find an semi-unfamiliar building. He reentered the restaurant, determined to ask a resident of Kingsport for directions on how to return to the boardinghouse. He noticed, however, that the Pringle Hotel's dining room was now empty; the only person remaining was Clara. "I will just have to ask her for directions on how to get home," Gilbert concluded.

He stood up from the table and walked toward Clara, who was clearing off a table in the other side of the dining room.

"Clara?" Gilbert asked.

"Why, sir, how convenient it is that you haven't gone home yet. Now that you and I are alone and that tempered redhead has left..."

"Listen, can I have directions to the Kingsport Ladies College boardinghouse?" Gilbert interrupted. "I'm afraid I don't know my way around town," Gilbert stated.

"I would love to give you directions, but I assure you that it would be entirely impossible to walk all the way to KLC in the dark. How about I go retrieve father's automobile and drive you home?" Clara secretly smiled at the opportunity for some alone time with the handsome young man.

"I prefer to walk in the dark, actually," Gilbert mumbled, annoyed at how the girl was trying to lure him in.

"I'm sorry, but I refuse to give you directions. It is simply unsafe for you to be wandering around in the dark."

"Fine. Drive me, then," Gilbert silently cursed himself for giving in to Clara so easily.

"I'll go fetch the car. I will be waiting out front for you in a few minutes," Clara declared slyly, turning her back and walking out the door.

Gilbert sighed and slid his hands in his pockets submissively. Everything had been going well. And now, Anne had left him, and Clara was driving him home. He would have to make things right in the morning.

Soon, Gilbert noticed the car lights appear in the driveway outside of the Pringle Hotel. Reluctantly, he walked out the door and stepped into the vehicle, thinking to himself, "she better not flirt with me." Because even though he was rather infuriated with Anne, he still had strong feelings for her.

"You know, you look extremely handsome tonight," Clara complimented, as if she was speaking right to Gilbert's thoughts and disobeying them.

"Things aren't over between me and Anne, you know," he reminded Clara sharply. "Those types of quarrels happen to be a regular occurrence in our relationship."

"So, where are you from?" Clara said, steering the subject away from Anne. "And I haven't even formally introduced myself. I'm Clara Pringle. I heard from my aunt, who runs the KLC boardinghouse, actually, about a young man who was coming to teach who was supposed to arrive yesterday. That young man would be you, I presume. I'm sure you're well aware of the Pringles by now. We are a very prominent family in Kingsport."

"So I've heard," Gilbert muttered.

"And what is your name, sir?" Clara said rather forcefully, when Gilbert did not introduce himself.

"Gilbert," was all he gave her.

"And where are you from, Gilbert?"

"A wonderful place with wonderful people," Gilbert said dreamily.

"London? New York? Paris?" Clara inquired, convinced that Gilbert must be one of those rich millionaires from Europe or the United States.

"No. Avonlea. It's a small farming town on Prince Edward Island," Gilbert declared proudly.

"A farming town? I didn't know that good-looking boys like you could be raised on farms. But, I assure you, you would never have to set foot on a farm again if you decided to stay here long-term."

"I am only staying here for the rest of the month. There are other things that I intend to do with my life," Gilbert stated bluntly.

"Well let me tell you more about the Pringles. I'm sure that you'll stay after you hear all that I have to tell!" Clara said.

"Uh huh," Gilbert replied monotonously.

"You see, a whole group of Pringles came from England to Canada in the early 1700s and founded Kingsport..." Clara continued to ramble on and on about the history of the town and the wealth of her relatives, but Gilbert zoned out and began thinking of Anne. She had looked beautiful that evening, and Gilbert thought of hugging her and kissing her and doing other things that he had absolutely no right to do.

Finally, Clara pulled up to the boardinghouse. "We're here," she announced, interrupting her story momentarily. Gilbert hopped out of the car and then assisted Clara, though only out of sheer politeness sand nothing more.

"Isn't it a beautiful evening?" Clara said, slowly inching in toward Gilbert.

"Yes," Gilbert said automatically while he continued to think of Anne. How much he wanted to take Anne out on a late night stroll that evening and kiss her as if there was no tomorrow...

"You must be staying in the only vacant room on the second floor," Clara concluded, walking Gilbert up the stairs. She subtly reached her hand out to connect with Gilbert's. Gilbert, who couldn't get Anne off of his mind, did not notice that he was now holding Clara's hand.

As Clara and Gilbert reach the top of the flight of stairs, Anne decided to go over to Gilbert's room and see if he was home yet. She desperately wanted to apologize for her childish actions earlier. As Anne opened the door and stepped into the hallway, she saw Gilbert and the waitress from dinner that evening holding hands.

Anne was about ready to break down and cry and kill Gilbert at the same time. How could he already be pursuing another woman- a Pringle, for that matter! Anne was furious, but desperately tried to hide her feelings and remain calm as to not show her disappointment and vulnerability to Gilbert.

"...and tomorrow I'll introduce you to my mother..." Clara rambled on, inching even closer to Gilbert, who was still lost in his thoughts about Anne, oblivious to his surroundings. Clara's face was now just a mere few inches away from his. Then, out of the corner of her eye, Clara noticed a figure with vibrant red hair. It was the Anne girl who Gilbert had eaten dinner with! Clara immediately decided to confirm her relationship with Gilbert in front of Anne and quickly leaned in to Gilbert, planting a quick kiss on his cheek and muttering, "goodnight, darling."

At the feeling of someone's lips pressed against his cheek, Gilbert snapped out of his daydreams and into reality. "Clara, stop!" Gilbert yelled, pushing the girl off of him. "There's no reason to be ashamed of kissing in front of Anne, silly. Now goodnight, Gilbert dear," Clara whispered loud enough for Anne to hear as she waltzed away. Gilbert just rolled his eyes and prayed that he would not encounter Clara ever again during his time in Kingsport.

When Clara was gone, Gilbert looked up and noticed Anne standing several feet down the hallway. Had she really been watching the entire ordeal?

Gilbert stared at Anne for a moment. She looked shocked and extremely saddened at the same time. Gilbert's heart melted at the sight of her looking so depressed. He began to walk toward her, wanting so badly to comfort her, but before he could say anything, she turned around and ran back into her room, slamming the door with a thud and fastening it shut so he could not enter.

Gilbert had never felt so horrible in his life. Not only had he covered up his true feelings at dinner, but he had caused Anne to think that he was courting Clara! And how absolutely horrible that kiss had felt. He wanted to save his first kiss for Anne, not a stranger who was a Pringle! Gilbert's mind was unable to relax as he found himself upset over the events of that night. As he changed into his pajamas and crawled into bed, he became aware of the sound of quiet sobs coming from the room on the opposite side of his wall- Anne's room. Had Gilbert made Anne cry? He could not fall asleep knowing that Anne was hurting so much because of his actions. Without second thought, Gilbert crawled out of his bed and tiptoed across the room, opened his door, and walked down the hall for a few steps until he reached Anne's room. Despite the late hour it was that night, Gilbert had to mend his relationship with Anne. He took a deep breath and then knocked on her door three times, hoping to relieve her of pain and sorrow and admit to her how he truly felt.


	6. Chapter 6

Anne was lying in her bed that night, immensely disappointed that she had witnessed Gilbert kissing Clara. Anne was heartbroken. She wanted Gilbert to act like he used to around her- flirting and teasing and mooning over her. But all of it was gone, and she'd just have to accept that Gilbert no longer cared about her. And Anne had just realized that she had deeper feelings for Gilbert. Why had it taken her so long to realize that there was more to their relationship than friendship? If only she could have had such a revelation just a few days before Gilbert had met Clara, everything would have worked out!

Anne got out of bed and walked over to her desk. She opened the first drawer and scavenged through it, pulling out pens and scrap paper and letters and documents until she found what she was looking for.

It was a picture of her and Gilbert, taken the previous summer at Diana's wedding by a photographer from Charlottetown. It had been taken behind her and Gilbert's back when they were in the middle of a playful argument. Anne had her hands on her hips and was smiling lively at Gilbert. Gilbert's arms were crossed as he looked down at Anne, his eyes twinkling with joyfulness. The meadow and its flowers glistened in the background of the image. Though she didn't realize it at the time, Anne loved talking with Gilbert and even arguing with him. She and Gil had been so engrossed in what ever they were talking about that they didn't notice Diana's secret plan to capture their rivalry in a photograph. Gilbert had never even known of the photo. Anne had been planning on sharing it with him, but couldn't now that Gilbert no longer cared. Anne walked back over to her bed, snuggled herself in under the covers and clutched the photo close to her heart. Her tears continued pouring out of her eyes, and one stray drop dripped onto the picture she held in her hands.

Just a moment later, Anne heard a knock at the door. Who could it be at this hour? Anne's mind jumped to the thought that it would be Gilbert, but she knew that such a prospect would be too unlikely. She reluctantly crawled out of bed, setting the photo down on her nightstand, and walked over to the door, undoing the latch slowly. She inched open the door quietly until it revealed Gilbert, in his pajamas, looking crushed and disheartened, much to Anne's surprise.

"I know it's late, Anne, but I just wanted to say that I'm unbelievably sorry," Gilbert whispered. "It all happened before I could comprehend it. I had to ask Clara for help on getting back to the boardinghouse. Otherwise, I would have had to spend the night at the Pringle Hotel, and that would have been far worse."

Gilbert waited for Anne to yell at him and scream for him to get out of the room. But instead, for once, she stayed silent. Her sobs had quieted down, though tears were still dripping down her cheeks.

"Anne, what is it?" Gilbert asked after Anne remained speechless.

"Oh, Gil..." Anne muttered as she ran toward Gilbert and pulled him in to a hug, wrapping her arms around him and cuddling him closely. Gilbert returned the gesture and squeezed her in return, pressing her body against his. The hug seemed to break the barrier between Anne and Gilbert and made up for troubled pasts and regretful mistakes. Embracing Gilbert felt amazing to Anne, and she realized that she had been hiding her true feelings for their entire relationship. "I'm sorry, Gilbert. I'm so, so sorry..." Anne cried, her voice muffled by Gilbert's body. Gilbert just squeezed Anne harder at her words.

Finally, after savoring each other for nearly a minute, Gilbert pulled away, as he was curious to find out what exactly led to Anne's unexpected hug. "Why did you do that, Anne?" Gilbert asked. He hated to break the romantic atmosphere of the moment, but he just _had_ to know.

"I just felt like I...needed to do...it," Anne admitted.

So many thoughts and emotions were running through Gilbert at the moment. Did this mean that Anne loved him? That she cared about him? That she finally realized that they were meant to be together? Gilbert took a deep breath and reminded himself not to rush anything so the moment wouldn't be ruined.

"Anne, I didn't mean for Clara to kiss me. You know that, right?"

"Of course, Gil," Anne replied.

"I just want you to know that I was planning on saving my first kiss for..."

"...for what, Gil?" Anne begged, wanting to hear his next words.

"...for the most beautiful person in the world."

"And who would that be?" Anne inquired.

"...you..." Gilbert said in a husky voice, trailing off.

Anne's heart fluttered at his words. She needed Gilbert. And he needed her. Anne slowly gained the courage to lean in slowly. Her face was so close to Gilbert's that she could feel him breathing.

"Kiss me, Anne," Gilbert murmured. How Gilbert long had been waiting for this moment, and it was finally here!

Anne wrapped her arms around Gilbert, embracing him once again. As her lips neared coming into contact with his, their hearts beating wildly and their breathing quickening, they were interrupted by a knock at the door and were mortified when they saw...

A/N: Sorry to leave you hanging! Who is at the door? Predict and review! (:


	7. Chapter 7

Katherine Brooke was standing in the doorway, her hair pulled back in a tight bun as usual. She was wrapped in a loose, sand-colored shawl, and her hands rested on her hips, demonstrating her dominance. She glared at Anne and her rather mysterious escort, whom she did not officially know the name of, though she had her suspicions. They did look rather adorable together, she admitted to herself, but she took pride and enjoyment in putting other people in uncomfortable situations.

"What have we here?" Katherine probed, squinting he eyes superiorly and lifting her chin with confidence.

Anne tried to gain her composure and stood up straight and tall, preparing herself for Katherine's typical bitterness. Gilbert cleared his throat awkwardly.

Gilbert had not yet encountered this woman during his little time in Kingsport. He was unsure of who exactly the woman was and what she was doing in Anne's bedroom at such a late hour. "If it's another Pringle..." he thought to himself, "I will go insane."

But it wasn't another Pringle. It was Katherine Brooke, the headmistress of Kingsport Ladies College.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Brooke. This is not what it seems, I assure you..." Anne appeared quite flustered, her cheeks as red as her hair.

"Nothing is what it seems, now is it, Anne?" Katherine raised her eyebrows. "This is exactly why we discourage such young people from taking positions at Kingsport Ladies College."

Ms. Brooke? The headmistress? Gilbert was alarmed. What a way to make a first impression! However, whatever punishment he must endure for such scandalous actions would be worth it for having been so close to kissing Anne.

"And you must be the infamous Gilbert Blythe." Katherine smiled slyly.

"...yes..." Gilbert stumbled.

"For future reference, my room is directly next door. This dreadful old building has very thin walls. In fact, I could hear your entire conversation."

Anne looked down to the ground, unable to make eye contact with Katherine.

"I ensure you that nothing of this sort will happen ever again," Anne promised.

"You do?" Gilbert blurted out.

Anne shot him a glare.

"Yes, she does," Katherine responded. "Ms. Stacey told me that you two were acquaintances, not in love with one another."

"We are not in love, Ms. Brooke!" Anne said, her temper flaring.

Gilbert's expression suddenly turned sad at Anne's statement, which didn't go unnoticed to Anne.

"Well, judging from what you guys were doing, it did seem like it to me," Katherine concluded.

"Like I said, there is nothing between me and Gilbert, and even if there were, it would be our business and not yours!" Anne was practically screaming now.

"Ah, so our temper shines through, does it, Ms. Shirley?" Katherine inquired. "And you know, it really would be my business, considering that all teachers are ordered to act appropriately on school grounds, and both of you have violated that rule."

"I was only trying to give Anne a kiss goodnight after our evening out at dinner!" Gilbert said, attempting to defend himself one last time.

"Does that mean that you went to dinner in your pajamas?" Ms. Brooke laughed smugly.

It wasn't until Katherine Brooke's comment that Gilbert realized that he was wearing pajamas and Anne was wearing a nightgown! Though they weren't _sinful_ pajamas, they still were pajamas.

"You two will both be punished for this affair," Katherine informed them.

Anne cringed at the mention of the word "affair".

"However, I do not know what your punishment will be yet," she continued. "I must first consult with Ms. Stacey to make the final decision."

"Ms. Stacey?" Anne and Gilbert said in shock simultaneously.

"Yes. She is the one who recommended both of you for coming here to KLC," Ms. Brooke reminded them.

Words could not describe how mortified Anne and Gilbert were.

"Now I am going back to bed. You two are keeping me from my precious little hours of sleep I get at night. We shall resume discussing the state of affairs in the morning. Gilbert, you are to return to your room at once. And Anne, you are not to follow him. If I catch you two together again, then your consequences will be much worse."

"Yes, Ms. Brooke," Anne and Gilbert both said obediently.

With that, Katherine Brooke twirled around like a queen and strutted out the door with an air of superiority.

"I've got to go, Anne," Gilbert whispered as he turned around. How much he just wanted to stay and enjoy being with Anne...

"Bye, Gil," Anne whispered back.

Gilbert turned around one time to get a final glance at Anne. She looked beautiful in the dim lighting from the lantern on the nightstand next to the bed. He was tempted to lean in and try to kiss her again, but with his luck, Ms. Brooke would walk back in again.

Gilbert turned around, walked out the door, and slowly made his way back to his room, trying to process everything that had just happened. He, Gilbert Blythe, had almost kissed Anne Shirley. He couldn't help but smile at the thought.

After Gilbert left, Anne remained standing at the door, immersed in her thoughts.

Did she want to kiss Gilbert? But it couldn't be. She had hated him since she could remember. Or had she? Thoughts bounced around in her head and she couldn't get them to stop.

"Oh, Gilbert..." she muttered as she collapsed onto her bed, "maybe I like you after all..."

A/N: I hope everyone who is reading this is enjoying the story so far! And, if you have a few seconds, please just click on that little button down there that says "Review This Chapter" and tell me what you're thinking! And to everyone who has reviewed so far, thank you! Your reviews keep me wanting to continue writing. Expect a lot of chapters coming up starting on Friday; I will be on spring break for two weeks so I'll have time to focus on the development of this story! :D


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: I procrastinated on homework (as usual) to continue writing this story. So here is an early, surprise chapter for you to enjoy! (At this moment, I am *supposed* to be doing an English story on the Arabian Nights that is due tomorrow, but writing this type of story is so much more enjoyable than writing something for an actual class- though the Arabian Nights is still an interesting read.) Additionally, thanks to AOGGismylife for informing me of a slight mistake I made in the last few chapters. I accidentally switched a scene from being in Anne's room to being in Gilbert's room. Today, I edited Chapter 7 to fix this mistake. If you notice any other mistakes, please notify me for the betterment of my story! Anyway, enough of my pointless ramble. Here is the chapter!

The next day, Anne and Gilbert found themselves in the office of Katherine Brooke, along with the presence of their former beloved school teacher, Ms. Stacey.

"So, Anne and Gilbert," Katherine Brooke began, "would you two like to explain to Ms. Stacey what I witnessed last night?" Ms. Brooke sat back in her chair and crossed her arms smugly.

Ms. Stacey had no idea what had happened, but already found the situation somewhat amusing, between Anne and Gilbert's expressions of mortification and Katherine's air of superiority. She couldn't help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, Anne and Gilbert were becoming more than just friends. Could that be the reason for the impromptu meeting?

"Well..." Anne began, trailing off immediately. She looked up at Ms. Stacey momentarily, but could not maintain eye contact with her. "After dinner, Gilbert came to tell me goodnight..."

"And Gilbert, how about you tell Ms. Stacey what you did while telling Anne goodnight."

"I did nothing," Gilbert stated bluntly. It was the honest truth, he assured himself. He never had actually kissed Anne.

"Fine, then. What did you almost do while telling Anne goodnight?" Ms. Brooke questioned deviously.

Ms. Stacey raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"I..." Gilbert started blushing immensely. "I, I was going to..."

Everyone's eyes patiently remained on Gilbert.

"I was going to kiss her," Gilbert blurted out.

Katherine smirked cunningly at the response. She would finally get her arch rival, Anne Shirley, and her no-good beau out of the institution once and for all! Meanwhile, Anne Shirley was blushing to the point in which her cheeks were nearly as red as her hair.

Ms. Stacey, however, smiled profusely at statement. In fact, she had to bite her lip in order to keep from bursting out laughing. She had known all along that Anne and Gilbert were going to get together, and now, they finally had!

After regaining her composure, Ms. Stacey spoke her opinion of the matter. "I don't think that Anne and Gilbert should be punished."

"Really?" Anne and Gilbert said simultaneously as they let out a sigh of relief.

"Wh...what?" Katherine Brooke spoke with a tone of shock.

"I know you asked for my opinion, so I am giving it to you. As long as Anne and Gilbert weren't doing anything that could be deemed as vulgarly inappropriate, then I think that they should be let off the hook."

"Why, you can't be serious!" Katherine exclaimed, her mouth hanging open. "But I consider kissing vulgarity!"

"We were not kissing, however, Ms. Brooke!" Anne ensured.

"But you were in your nightgowns!" Katherine pointed out as a last attempt.

"But we were not kissing, or doing anything...else..." Anne began feeling increasingly uncomfortable and hated how Ms. Brooke had purposefully set her up for that very reason.

"I think that we have heard all of the evidence necessary to come to a conclusion," Ms. Stacey proclaimed. "Anne and Gilbert, you will not be punished for this happening, however, I strongly recommend that you take your personal affairs elsewhere in the future. Does that sound like a fair compromise?"

Anne and Gilbert nodded their heads in agreement.

"Ms. Brooke, do you agree?"

"I suppose," she declared reluctantly.

"Well, then it's all settled. I must be going now. Ms. Cordelia Pringle has invited me to a Lady's Aid Society meeting to prepare for the Kingsport Springtime Ball next weekend. We are in the process of knitting the tablecloths, as well as other decorations. I hope to see you at the ball, Anne and Gilbert. And even you, Ms. Brooke," Ms. Stacey said with a smile as she stood up and walked toward the door.

Anne and Gilbert both blushed for the umpteenth time at Ms. Stacey's rather obvious suggestion. Katherine, on the other hand, let out an audible "humph" in total disapproval.

"Good day," Ms. Stacey said cheerfully as she departed.

"Good day," Ms. Brooke mumbled rather mockingly under her breath. "Ms. Shirley, Mr. Blythe- you are dismissed."

"Thank you," Anne said as she waltzed toward the door, grateful for finally being excused to leave the awkward situation. Gilbert followed her footsteps.

Once the pair was out of Ms. Brooke's classroom, Anne let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. "I thought Ms. Brooke was going to punish us for sure! Thank goodness that Ms. Stacey intervened."

"She's known all along," Gilbert mused as he walked out the door of Kingsport Ladies College and walked with Anne down the street.

"What?" Anne asked in confusion. "She's known about what all along?"

"About us, Anne."

"Why, that's impossible! I have never had strong feelings for you until you came to Kingsport," Anne rambled. Then, she suddenly realized what she had said aloud.

"You have...strong feelings for...me?" Gilbert repeated with disbelief. Things were finally progressing the way he wanted them to. He had only dreamed of the moment in which Anne would say such a thing and rehearsed in his head over and over the words that he would say after Anne made such a declaration. But now that the moment had finally occurred, Gilbert was speechless.

"I..." Anne paused and looked into Gilbert's eyes, which were twinkling with anticipation. She did want to confirm the words that she had priorly uttered, but as she stared at Gilbert deeply, she noticed the passion and desire in his eyes. He gazed at her so intensely that she began shaking with fear of what he was thinking about her. Somewhere inside of her, Anne wanted Gilbert right then and there. However, she became suddenly overwhelmed with powerful and unfamiliar emotions that were arising out of the moment. "...I have to go..." Anne stated randomly as the turned around abruptly and ran down the road, her hair blowing in the early morning breeze.

"Anne!" Gilbert called, running after her in his desperateness. But she was already quite far in front of him, and all he could do was stare at her silhouette as it vanished into the horizon along with his unfulfilled desires and buried hopes.

A/N: I just have a small request for all of you out there who are reading my story: please just write a review! Even if it is something as plain as "I like it". And, if all of you who have "favorited" (yes, I realize that is not a word) this story write a review, my review count will increase drastically! Expect the next chapter on Friday (tomorrow!) or Saturday, as long as I find several reviews in my inbox! Thanks to everyone who is following along.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: So I lied. I am posting Chapter 9 one day late. Sorry! However, I will try to post Chapter 10 by tomorrow, or even possibly today to make up for it. Also, to awesomedingo100: I might just take you up on your suggestion for my story in a few chapters! Anyway, here's Chapter 9. Enjoy.

Anne immediately returned to her room and remained there for the rest of the day, grading English papers on Tennyson's The Lady of Shallot. She finished catching up on her grading and other paperwork by early that evening and decided to take a relaxing walk during the sunset and enjoy the warming weather of spring.

All throughout the walk, Anne could not get the fact that she ran away from Gilbert off her mind. She had meant to tell him how she felt, but she couldn't build up the courage to do so. The feelings she had while around him were unlike anything else she had ever felt before, and she had no idea how to respond to them. Anne had always thought that a tall, poetic, and romantic suitor would make his way into her life and marry her. But as Anne grew up, she realized that her childhood dreams no longer seemed to be relevant to her own life. Maybe there was more to romance than handsome, elegant men. Maybe romance began with a friendship and then blossomed into something more.

Between her captivation with her thoughts and the darkness of the night, Anne was hardly paying any attention to her surroundings. This caused Anne to bump, and quite literally, into an old, spunky lady who was making her way down the street.

"Oh! Merciful heavens! What is the meaning of this?" The woman croaked, her arm on her hips as she backed away from the person whom she had ran into.

"It's all my fault, ma'am..." Anne began, but something stopped her. She recognized the voice of the woman. Even though she couldn't make out the details of the person, she knew exactly whom she had bumped into.

"Aunt Josephine!" Anne exclaimed. "It's me, Anne Shirley! Do you remember me?"

"Oh, Anne! How could I not remember you! What are you doing here in Kingsport, my dear? I am so sorry that I reacted to you in such a way, but God only knows who you run into in the dark in an unfamiliar town on your own," Aunt Josephine rambled on as she reached in for a hug. "By the way, this running into seems to remind me of a time long ago when we first met!"

Anne thought back to the moment when she met Aunt Josephine by jumping on her while she was asleep in bed. She laughed out loud at the memory. "I am teaching here at Kingsport Ladies College. And what are you doing here?" Anne asked excitedly.

"Oh, just visiting an old friend from my childhood days. I am only staying here for a few days, though. After that, I am heading over to Nova Scotia to see an opera," Aunt Josephine said.

"How enchanting!" Anne commented.

"How have you been recently? Have any young men found there way into your life?" Aunt Josephine asked teasingly.

"Well..." Anne began, "I guess..."

"Is it that Blythe fellow?" Aunt Josephine guessed with a smile.

"I guess so. He is teaching here at Kingsport for the rest of the month with me. And I can't deny that his arrival has caused me to have some romantic...feelings toward him. But Aunt Josephine, I honestly do not know if I do like him! Sometimes I feel like I want to be with him, but other times, I remember the type of person whom I've always wanted to marry, and Gilbert definitely does not meet the qualifications!"

"What is your ideal, then, Anne girl? Because that Blythe lad seems pretty ideal to me. It will be tough to find another catch like him."

"Well, my ideal has always been someone who is tall, handsome, dreamy and romantic, who loves operas and recites poetry..."

"That is all nonsense, Anne!" Aunt Josephine interrupted. "Do not let those silly childhood ambitions get in the way of your life at this moment. I'm going to remind you of something that I once told you long ago, Anne. Make a little room in your plans again for romance, because all of your accomplishments won't be able to make up for the lack of it.

"Now, I have to go now. I'm meeting my friend at the Pringle Hotel for dinner. But keep in mind what I said, okay? And come and visit me soon in Charlottetown when you get the time, Anne-girl." Aunt Jo then planted a farewell kiss on Anne's cheek and turned around and walked away.

"Goodbye, Aunt Jo," Anne said softly. Solitarily, she made her way back to the boardinghouse, turning Aunt Josephine's recommendations over in her head.

"She knows what it's like to be lonely," Anne thought, "and she doesn't want that life for me."

That night, Anne made a promise to herself that she would let Gilbert know the next day how she felt and not shy away from her feelings. Little did she know what would happen the next day that would change the way she felt...

A/N: Sorry for the somewhat short chapter! However, I already have most of Chapter 10 done. :) Thank you for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews so far! Judy- I went back and fixed the errors that you pointed out. *Hopefully* there are no more. Thank you so much for taking the time to point them out to me! And to imagANNEation- I have made this chapter substantially longer (it has 1,755 words!), so hopefully it will be satisfactory. Enjoy!

Gilbert woke up bright and early to prepare for the school day. He was to teach six classes everyday: three science classes and three mathematics classes. The curriculum at Kingsport Ladies College, he had discovered, was already set in stone. He would be teaching geometry for the final month of school in mathematics. In science, he was to finish up the unit on cellular division and then teach abut the circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems to conclude the human anatomy unit of the second semester. Thank goodness the previous teacher had finished covering the reproductive system before her illness, he thought to himself, as he would not like to teach that to a group of wishy-washy Pringles.

Gilbert put on his nicest suit and groomed himself for the day. His quickly memorized his schedule, which was three science classes in the morning followed by three math classes in the afternoon.

Though he had not seen Anne since she ran away from him yesterday, Gilbert was hoping that she would accept his apology for whatever he did (even though he had no idea what he did). Because of Anne's behavior, he was feeling down that morning, especially after getting his hopes up after the kiss. He then walked down the road from the boardinghouse to the school, which only took about three minutes, and found his classroom, which was directly across the hall from Anne's.

The classroom contained several rows of desks, a main desk for the teacher, and a chalkboard at the front of the classroom. After reviewing his lesson plans for the day several times, he sat at his desk nonchalantly, not quite sure what to do with himself.

A few minutes later, Anne wandered her way into Gilbert's classroom, clutching books to her chest. Her hair was up in a bun with two strands of curls framing her face. Gilbert thought to himself that she looked absolutely stunning.

"Hello, Anne," Gilbert said, a smile creeping up on his face.

"Hello, Gil. I just wanted to tell you that I am sorry for storming away like that yesterday," Anne admitted. "I just...I was overwhelmed by my feelings...that's all."

"It's okay, Anne. I wasn't offended or anything," Gilbert lied. In fact, he had been offended when Anne left, as he had no idea what he had done to cause her to storm away in such a manner. But of course he would never inform her of such things.

For a moment there was silence. Anne shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She wondered if she should tell Gilbert what she was too afraid to tell him the day before.

"I have never had feelings for anyone but you before. That's why I ran away. I was scared."

"So it's true then?" Gilbert said optimistically. "You do have feelings for me?" His eyes twinkled with hope.

"Yes, I do, Gilbert. I was thinking about it last night. I was such a fool for not realizing it earlier."

"You weren't a fool, Anne. It just took some time for you to realize your feelings."

"Can we take it slowly, though, Gil?" Anne whispered as she moved closer to him. "I just don't want to rush into things quite yet."

"Of course, Anne," Gilbert reassured her, despite the fact that he wouldn't mind rushing things, considering how long he had waited. But, he reminded himself, everything was new to Anne, even if he had been in love with her for years. He reached for her hand, held it, and leaned in slightly, but was interrupted by the ringing of the bell. Voices could be heard as students shuffled into classes.

"Every time there is something that interrupts us!" Gilbert grumbled.

"Meet me at the bridge across Kingsport Lake at lunchtime. I'll be waiting," Anne beamed, her eyes glistening.

"Okay, Carrots," Gilbert said with a deep chuckle. Anne snorted at the joke as she regrouped herself for the school day.

Gilbert retreated back to his classroom across the hall to find Katherine Brooke standing in the classroom, clutching a large box in her arms.

"Hello, Ms. Brooke," Gilbert greeted.

"Mr. Blythe," Katherine Brooke said stiffly with a smirk.

"What is in the box?" Gilbert asked, gesturing at the large package.

"It is a light microscope that was donated by Kingsport Ladies College's most prominent family. It is is of the same caliber of microscopes used in the most technologically advanced scientific laboratories in the Maritimes. I am sure that it will come in handy in your genetics lesson on mitosis for today."

"I'm sure it will," Gilbert replied.

"Have you any experience using a microscope, Mr. Blythe?" Katherine questioned suspiciously. "One with such little experience may not be capable of using such advanced equipment."

"There is no need to doubt one's capabilities because of age, Ms. Brooke. I actually have used that exact same microscope frequently in my Molecular Biology course at Dalhousie in my studies to become a doctor," Gilbert stated candidly. He was already growing tired of Katherine Brooke's attitude.

"Well, I hope that you are as trustworthy as you portray yourself to be," Katherine said pompously as she placed the box, along with the updated science lesson plan, onto Gilbert's desk and waltzed out of the room as if she was the Queen of England.

Soon, a group of sixteen girls made their way into Gilbert's classroom. They did not closely resemble Avonlea girls, Gilbert observed. They did not come from hardworking, farming families who lived in the beautiful Canadian countryside. Instead, they came from the wealthiest families in the region and were spoiled with riches and luxuries. This would take some getting used to, he thought to himself.

As Gilbert was lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear the snippets of conversation coming from the students of Kingsport Ladies College.

"...looks as handsome as a king..."

"...is in love with Ms. Shirley..."

"...must come from money..."

"...can't be a farm boy..."

But the most important discourse was between Jen Pringle and Myra Pringle.

"We should play the exact same tricks on Mr. Blythe as we did on Ms. Shirley!" Jen stated. "I have already put the snake in his desk; I did so right before class started. I reminded the entire class to introduce themselves with funny names as well, even though silly old Emmeline would never participate in any tricks."

"Emmeline sure does spoil everything with her 'goodness'. But I do have another box of firecrackers!" Myra chimed in.

"Very good," Jen praised. "But this time, we must avoid catching the school on fire with them. They are for show and scare only."

The two girls took their seats right next to one another in the very back of the classroom so that they could further plan their pranks.

Yes, Gilbert Blythe was the biggest source of gossip that morning for the girls of Kingsport Ladies College, who had never had a male teacher before throughout their time at the institution.

After the final bell rang, Gilbert cleared his throat, attempting to quiet down the class. When the girls didn't stop talking, he picked up a ruler that was propped up against a wall and banged it against his desk, which silenced the class.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," Gilbert stated out of pure habit. The girls began giggling at his mistake.

"...um, I mean...good morning...ladies," Gilbert stumbled, recognizing his error. The girls seemed to find this comment even more humorous, as they snickered even louder at their teacher.

"I would like to get started by telling you a little bit about myself," Gilbert began. "I come from Avonlea, a small town on Prince Edward Island- the same place as Ms. Shirley is from. In fact, I have known Ms. Shirley ever since I was a child when she moved to the Island when she was eleven." Did Gilbert really just make the story regarding his life be about Anne? Well, then again, Anne was his life. But he didn't want the girls at Kingsport to suspect anything between them. "Anyway," he continued, "I am currently studying to become a doctor at Dalhousie Medical School in Halifax. I just finished up my first year there, and I have three more years until I graduate. This is a good segue into what we will be discussing today in science, actually. Today, we will be looking at plant cells under a microscope and identifying different stages of mitosis to give you a visual representation of what you learned with Ms. McKay. This microscope just arrived to the school, thanks to the institute's generous benefactors."

"My parents were the ones who paid for the microscope, you know," Jen Pringle interrupted, fluttering her eyes at Gilbert.

"Well, miss, it is...nice...to know such unwarranted information," Gilbert monotonously mumbled.

Jen Pringle smiled superiorly at the proclamation.

"Now, I suppose I should take attendance and learn each and every one of your names," Gilbert said as he pulled out his class list. "Pringle, Myra C?" Gilbert asked, looking up his sheet to the class. When no one said, 'present', he remembered something Anne had told him about the students pretending to have funny names. "Oh, that's right," Gilbert said, "I have the wrong attendance list. Here is the right one. Let's see. Is Wilma I. Ball here? What about Alice B. Heind?"

All of the girls burst out laughing, except Myra and Jen Pringle. He had ruined their master plan! But how could he have known?

Of course, they thought. Anne Shirley must have warned him.

"Are these not your names then?" Gilbert asked the class. "Well, then," he began, after receiving no response, "I assume that the prior list must be correct. So, Myra, are you here?"

"Present," Myra groaned, upset that her teacher had spoiled her prank.

Gilbert continued to go down the class list until he had named all sixteen girls- a process which took nearly half of the class period. "I am in for one hectic month!" Gilbert thought to himself. Anne had not lied to him at all. The Pringles were very stubborn, indeed.


	11. Chapter 11

After Gilbert finished taking attendance, he opened his desk's drawer in hope of finding a box of chalk. Instead of finding chalk, he found a snake, curled up tightly and making threatening hissing noises.

Gilbert almost jumped at the reptile, but remembered that Anne had mentioned something about the girls hiding a snake in her desk on the first day of school. After a quick examination of the creature, Gilbert noticed that it was a garter snake, given its brown and yellow coloring and small size. "Wow, my zoology course this year actually has come in handy," Gilbert thought to himself.

"Wow, look at this garter snake, girls," he said, gently picking it up and letting it slither around his arms. "These snakes are very common here in Canada. In fact, they are docile creatures that are friendly toward humans. I congratulate whomever put it in my desk, as they must be very knowledgable about what snakes are poisonous and which are not," Gilbert said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Did you hear him, Jen? He thinks that we are knowledgable!" Myra whispered excitedly to Jen.

"We are sure to become his favorite students if we tell him that we were the ones who put the snake in his desk! He sure does seem to like to go after smart girls! We shall stay after class and tell him then!" Jen exclaimed to her friend.

"We'd better put the snake back out in its proper environment so that it does not die here." Gilbert walked over to the window closest to his desk and cracked it open, allowing the snake to slither down the exterior wall of the building until it landed safely on the ground.

"Now girls, let's pull out our texts and open to page 107..." Gilbert began to open up the teacher's book until he noticed that Jen and Myra Pringle were whispering in the back of the classroom over a parcel.

"I cannot wait to use these at lunch!" Jen said. "I finally have been able to get my hands on another box after Ms. Shirley made me throw the other ones in the oven!"

"We should set them off right in Telescope Eyes' face!" Myra plotted.

"I better put these away before Mr. Blythe..."

"Jen? Myra? May I ask what is in that box?" Gilbert asked.

"Just...food, Mr. Blythe," Jen replied, fluttering her eyelashes at her teacher.

"If it is just food, can you please throw the box in the stove? Kingsport Ladies College, as you well know, has a very strict rule regarding food in class. But, if the box actually contains firecrackers, then I recommend that you give the box to me so that we do not burn the school down."

Jen and Myra Pringle were left speechless at their teacher's deviousness. He knew that the box contained firecrackers! They had run out of pranks to play!

"Give the box to me, girls," Gilbert stated sternly.

Jen looked into Gilbert's eyes for a few seconds. How handsome they were, she thought. And he couldn't be that much older. He was definitely well within her reach, or so she thought. Besides, Jen was much richer than Ms. Shirley, anyhow. In fact, out of all of the Pringle girls, she was probably the richest.

"Jen?" Gilbert asked, uncomfortable at the way his student was staring at him, as she had held her eye contact with him for several seconds.

"Oh, um...sorry, Mr. Blythe." Jen was clearly flustered. She felt her cheeks turn bright red as she walked up to the front of the class to give the parcel to her teacher.

"Jen and Myra, you must remain after class," Gilbert said as he opened the box and confirmed that the contents were firecrackers. "These are not permitted on Kingsport's premises. I am quite disappointed that you girls would bring these in to school, and I hear this is not the first time such an incident has happened."

The entire class, with the exception of Jen and Myra, of course, burst out laughing. It was quite a rare occasion that a teacher would humiliate a student in front of the class in such a manner. Jen and Myra were finally getting into trouble for their conspiracies!

"I don't care if he asks to see us after class," Myra whispered. "He is so handsome."

"Have you ever looked into his eyes?" Jen murmured. "He is definitely better looking than any man we have ever come across in Kingsport."

"But he is from the same place as Ms. Shirley! It just can't be true," Myra concluded.

"All right, class," Gilbert said, interrupting the chitter chatter of Jen and Myra, "let's read the excerpt on plant cells at the top of page 107." Gilbert paused for a moment, scouting out a non-troublemaking student who would take the task of reading seriously.

Gilbert spotted a girl with long brown hair, blue eyes, and spectacles sitting in the very back corner of the room, whose name, he remembered, was Emmeline. She appeared to be immersed in a book that was not related to science. After squinting his eyes, Gilbert noticed that the cover of the book was A Collection of Tennyson's Poetry. He had to bite his lips to keep from smiling at the sight. How that reminded him of Anne during their school days...

"Emmeline," Gilbert said with a smile, "would you please read the top of page 107 for us?"

Emmeline cleared her throat as she turned to the correct page in the science textbook. "Plant cells are small units that require a microscope in order to be seen. Plant cells have a rigid texture and are shaped like bricks. Plant cells contain most organelles that are in animal cells but also contain organelles that are not in animal cells, such as chloroplast and the cell wall. The cell wall contributes to the rigidness of the plant, which allows for mitosis. The chloroplast causes the plant to be green in color. The dark green coloration allows for maximum absorbency of sunlight for the plant."

"Nicely read, Emmeline. Now, class, we will get out the microscope and..." Gilbert was interrupted in the middle of his sentence by the ringing of the bell. He hadn't even gotten to his lesson plan for the day! "...and we will finish this activity tomorrow," he stated, upset with himself. How had he only gotten through one paragraph of material? He surely wasn't that bad of a teacher!

After the rest of the class had left, Myra and Jen came up to their teacher to see what their punishment would be.

"Look, girls," Gilbert said, "I expect that you will not make such bad decisions again. For now, I have made the decision that you girls will spend a week's worth of lunch periods in this room, doing extra homework that I will assign on our current lessons in class, under my supervision."

Jen and Myra exchanged excited expressions at one another at the "punishment" of spending five lunches alone with the most handsome man who had ever lived in Kingsport!

"Will we start today, Mr. Blythe?" Jen asked, hardly able to conceal her excitement.

"Yes..." Gilbert said, until he remembered that he was seeing Anne during lunch that afternoon. Certainly that would not be postponed because of the misbehavior of two silly schoolgirls. "Actually, we'll start tomorrow. I have...to meet...someone...during lunch today," Gilbert confessed.

"Very well," Jen said smugly as she locked elbows with Myra, the pair marching out of the the Jen was out of the hearing distance of her teacher, she whispered to her Myra, "I know exactly what we will be doing at lunch today!"

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated this in forever! I will try to get the next chapter on as soon as possible! Thanks for your patience.


	12. Chapter 12

Gilbert managed to make his way through his next two classes, despite the intimidation he faced from teaching a group of girls. Gilbert felt like an outsider at Kingsport Ladies College because of his gender, and he was beginning to become paranoid about the constant giggling and staring and whispering the girls were doing in class. Was he the subject of their continual chatter? He certainly hoped not. The last thing Gilbert needed to deal with was a schoolgirl trying to court him.

The only thing that kept Gilbert from resigning from his position was Anne. In the minutes leading up to lunch, Gilbert struggled to keep his eyes off of his pocket watch as he anxiously waited for the minute hand to strike the twelve so that he could enjoy an entire hour picnicking with the love of his life.

Gilbert decided that the picnic would be located along the banks of Kingsport Lake near a small, wooden pavilion. Thankfully, the weather had cooperated with him that day, as it was a fairly sunny afternoon with comfortable temperatures.

That morning, Gilbert had made a trip to the general store, which was only a short walk down the road from his boardinghouse, and purchased the food for the picnic, including lemonade to drink, bread, jelly, and peanut butter for sandwiches, and cake for dessert. He neatly organized all of the food into a woven wooden basket, along with a lawn blanket to place on the grass. He kept the basket under his desk all morning.

After what seemed like centuries of waiting, the bell finally chimed, signaling the beginning of the hour-long lunch period. Gilbert walked out of his classroom faster than his students, finding himself unable to control his childlike excitement. Anne was waiting for him at the main entrance of the school, just as they had planned. She blushed as Gilbert walked toward her, a goofy grin on his face.

"Are you ready for our picnic, Anne?" He asked, his eyes twinkling with anticipation.

"Of course, Gilbert," Anne said, smiling in return. "But please don't be so obvious. Katherine can likely hear us from her office!" she giggled.

Gilbert bravely reached for Anne's hand until he was firmly grasping it, signifying their unison. He squeezed her hand reassuringly as they walked together out the door of the building and across the street to Kingsport Lake. The sun was at its peak position in the sky that day, with a few white clouds visible toward the horizon. The waters of the lake were quiet and undisturbed, and the slight summer breeze gently swayed the lithe trees on the banks of the lake back and forth. The songs of the robins and the bluejays and the whippoorwills could be heard from the forests surrounding the lake.

Gilbert decided on a shady spot for the picnic under a giant cherry tree on the banks of Kingsport Lake. As he spread out his blanket, Anne chimed, "Oh, Gilbert, wouldn't it be lovely to sleep in a cherry tree for a night under the moonlit sky? It's always been a dream of mine- ever since I can remember."

"It has?" Gilbert asked, eyeing the light pink canopy above him. It wasn't the tallest of the trees around Kingsport Lake- in fact, it was rather dwarf-like in comparison to the towering pine tree next to it. But it was indeed a beautiful tree, Gilbert decided, with feathery light buds the color of Anne's lips...

He cut off his thoughts then and there, forbidding himself from thinking of Anne's lips while in the presence of the aforementioned person, especially if the effect that such thoughts on him were to become visible to her!

Attempting to distract himself, Gilbert placed the picnic basket in front of him, gently opening it up and taking out the neatly folded, red and white checkered blanket. He unfolded it and smoothly laid it on the ground, ridding it of crinkles and creases.

Meanwhile, Anne was busy going through the food that had been packed in the basket. "Oh, Gilbert, you packed lemonade!" she said delightfully, pulling out the jar. "It's my absolute favorite!"

"I thought you'd like that," Gilbert said sweetly, smiling at Anne.

"So, how was your first morning at KLC? You seemed to have survived alright. No injuries or impairments, at least as far as I can see!" Anne teased as she took a bite out of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Gilbert let his head fall back as he laughed. "I never knew that girls could be that hard to teach," he admitted. "The boys were always the troublemakers at Carmody, never the girls."

"You'll learn the game soon enough, and the reigns will eventually be back in your hands. I know it's intimidating at first. But it must be even more so for you, since I have been hearing many of my students commenting on how you're as 'handsome as a prince!'"

"Ah, so that wasn't just in my mind?" Gilbert said, chuckling.

"I guess it's the one thing that my students and I agree about!" Anne snorted, blushing at the fact that she indirectly called Gilbert "handsome".

"Well, you can inform them that the 'handsome prince' has already committed himself to a redheaded princess," Gilbert said sincerely, his eyes deep with emotion and thoughtfulness. His breath was taken away at the sight of Anne, especially how the sun's rays seemed to intensify the redness of her hair.

Gilbert slowly reached his large, strong hand forward and caressed Anne's cheek. He then trailed his fingers upward and tucked her stray strands of hair behind her ear. He then reached his hand behind her back and pulled her close to him so that their faces were only an inch apart.

Anne felt her heartbeat quicken because of Gilbert's embrace.

"Can I kiss you, prettiest Anne?" Gilbert asked in a husky voice toned by his desire.

"Oh, Gil..." was all Anne could manage to say as she let her lover's lips fully capture hers.

They were both lost in the moment, unaware of their surroundings and lacking a sense of the passing time. All that mattered was that they were together, free of all past grudges and complications. That moment seemed to be lusciously simple yet dazzlingly unexplainable at the same time. The feelings that Anne possessed as Gilbert's lips trailed down her neck were so strong and passionate and newfound that she couldn't seem to control them. As Gilbert ran his hands up and down the sides of Anne's body, it was as if all of his hopes and dreams and wishes were being magically granted to him right then and there, for everything at that moment just seemed right.

Finally, after being engulfed in the kissing for a few minutes, Anne reluctantly pulled back. She found herself practically breathless, yet alive in some indescribable way that she had never felt before. Gilbert found himself in a similar state.

After several moments of attempting to absorb everything that had just occurred, Gilbert finally broke the silence.

"I...that was...it was incredible..." he managed to say as he tried to regain his composure.

"I know I'm usually stubborn, Gil, but...I would be lying if I didn't say that I thoroughly enjoyed that," Anne cooed, still under Gilbert's spell. She felt her cheeks flush as she gave into Gilbert and admitted her feelings for him.

"Does this mean I'm courting you now, Ms. Shirley?" Gilbert asked humorously, a smile creeping up on his lips.

"How is this for an answer?" Anne asked as she leaned back in, kissing Gilbert again at her own accord.

"Mmm..." Gilbert groaned in response to Anne's actions as he closed his eyes, wondering why he even bothered packing a picnic lunch after all. In fact, there were even sweeter things in life than lemonade and cake, he soon learned. Much sweeter things, indeed.

A/N: I apologize immensely for not updating this story in months! Now that I'm on summer break, I should have more time to continue this story. Thanks to all of my fans who have prompted me to continue writing. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and expect another chapter soon.


	13. Chapter 13

During lunch, two schoolgirls discreetly followed Anne and Gilbert as they walked to Kingsport Lake. They kept themselves at a safe distance- close enough to see their teachers' interactions, but far enough back so that they wouldn't be caught.

"Are you sure we're allowed to do this?" Myra asked. "We really aren't supposed to leave school grounds during lunchtime."

"Our fathers are two of the richest people in the Maritimes," Jen reminded Myra. "And Kingsport Ladies College wouldn't survive a day without their monetary contributions. Do you think the school would really be able to expel us for taking a walk?"

"I guess you're right," Myra admitted. "But Mr. Blythe and Ms. Shirley are both very strict."

"Yes, but they do not have any control over the school. Now, here's the plan," Jen began as they neared the lake. "We'll hide behind that pine tree right there. It has a large enough trunk so that both of us can easily fit behind it without being seen."

"They'll both be too preoccupied by one another to even notice us anyway," Myra determined.

The two friends made themselves comfortable behind the tree as they took turns peeking at their teachers.

"Can you make out what they're saying?" Myra whispered.

"I think that Ms. Shirley just said something about the cherry tree. She said that she's always dreamed of sleeping in one," Jen sneered.

"Of course she'd say that. She is quite unusual," Myra commented.

"Now they're going on about princes and princesses," Jen snorted. "Oh! Myra, look at what they're doing now!"

Myra poked her head out from behind the tree to see Anne and Gilbert passionately kissing.

"I don't know whether to be disappointed that he doesn't seem to like either of us or happy that our spying mission has been successful!" Myra said.

"It's not like he's proposed, Myra. And we can easily win him back."

The girls continued to watch their teachers' picnic together until it was time for their next class.

"We have English with Ms. Shirley next, don't we?" Myra asked.

"We do. And we only have a few minutes to get there before the bell rings."

"It looks like they are to engrossed in their picnic to realize how much time has gone by..." Myra giggled. "We should hurry back to school before they notice!"

"Yes, we should," Jen agreed. "And I have quite a brilliant plan to play on Ms. Shirley when we get back."

"Do you want any cake, Gil?" Anne asked as she cut herself a piece. "It would be a shame for it to go to waste!"

"I would love one, but what time does lunch end?" Gilbert asked apprehensively as he looked at his watch.

"One o'clock," Anne replied.

"Well, then I don't think we can eat any cake. It's 1:45!" Gilbert declared.

Anne dropped her fork in shock. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm quite serious, I'm afraid," Gilbert said, showing her his watch.

"Class has been going on for forty-five minutes!" Anne shouted. "Gilbert, we must hurry back before Katherine truly punishes us!"

Gilbert quickly shoved the rest of the food and the blanket into the picnic basket. He and Anne then ran as quickly as they could back to the school, giggling and laughing at their lateness.

Just as Anne entered her classroom, the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

"I'm sorry I didn't show up for class today," Anne said as her students began exiting the room. But truly, Anne didn't care. Spending such a wonderful afternoon was worth whatever punishment would come of it, anyway.

After everyone had exited the room, Jen and Myra approached their teacher, ready to begin their evil plan.

"Hello, Ms. Shirley," Jen and Myra said simultaneously.

"Why, hello Jen and Myra," Anne said with a smile. "Is there something you'd like to ask me about?"

"Yes, there is," Jen said. "Were you with Mr. Blythe during lunch, Ms. Shirley?"

"Yes, I was. But may I ask how you know, Jen?" Anne asked defensively. She did not like that her personal life was an open book to her students.

"Mr. Blythe told us that he was going on a picnic today with someone, and we thought it would be you," Myra chimed in.

"Well, it was me," Anne said. "But...why would he tell you about our picnic?" she continued, slightly displeased.

"Well, this will be troubling for you to hear, but I think we must tell you." Jen paused.

"Go on," Anne said vigilantly.

"You see, Myra and I were invited by Mr. Blythe to spend an entire week of lunches with him," Jen said, though she didn't mention that it was as a punishment. "Mr. Blythe was complaining that he could not spend time with us today, because he had a bothersome lunch appointment already scheduled- a picnic of some sort, apparently- with an irritating woman leftover from his childhood days. He seemed to regret arranging a picnic with her after he met us, or so he said."

"Did he...did he really say that?" Anne seethed, her voice shaking. Her eyes began filling up with tears, though she tried desperately to hold them back.

"He did," Myra lied. "Mr. Blythe told us his entire plan, in fact. He said that he would set up the picnic along the shores of Kingsport Lake near a certain cherry tree, and that he would kiss you a few times over the course of the picnic to keep you distracted from his relationship with me and Jen. That way, you wouldn't suspect anything."

"So you're trying to tell me that he invited me on a picnic to distract me from the fact that he is pursuing you girls?"

"I'm afraid so," Jen said. "He started to eye us in class when he learned how rich our families were."

"How do I...how do I know that this is really true?" Anne asked as she wiped away her tears with her pointer finger.

"How else would we know that you were on a picnic with Mr. Blythe and that you shared a few kisses under a cherry tree?" Jen smirked. Her plan was working just as she had hoped.

"We're terribly sorry to inform you of this, Ms. Shirley," Myra added when Anne didn't reply. "We really shouldn't have told you about Gilbert's romantic relationship with us. But it is important that you know about our fling, since you thought that you were courting him and all."

Anne darted out the door of the classroom before the two girls could say more. She ran toward Ms. Stacey's office, the tears now streaming down her face at a steady rate. Of course, she thought, it didn't seem like Gilbert's nature to do such a thing, but maybe he had changed. Maybe he had seen all of the money and the beautiful women in Kingsport and been too tempted by all of it to stand his ground. If she had been able to change her feelings about Gilbert so quickly, than maybe he was able to do the same as well.

But there was one thing that Anne now knew for sure: she truly had loved Gilbert. It hadn't just been something that came and went. It had been something that she craved and cherished, something that seemed to complete her life. And this sudden realization had only come because of Gilbert's interest in other girls. But now, it was all gone. And as the plummeted into the 'depths of despair', Anne doubted that she would ever be able to truly love someone again.

**A/N: Sorry to do such a cruel thing, but unfortunately, I can't make Anne and Gilbert's relationship go as smoothly as we all wish it would. Please review! The next chapter should be posted by tomorrow!**


	14. Chapter 14

Anne walked toward Ms. Stacey's office, pausing before knocking on the door. She was unsure of why Ms. Stacey's office was her instinctive destination in the first place. However, Anne decided that she simply needed to get away from the rest of the world and take some time to sort things out in her mind, and that Ms. Stacey's office would be the best place to do so.

Anne knocked loudly at the thick, wooden door. She paused and closed her eyes, dreading the fact that she would have to tell Ms. Stacey about her, well, affection for Gilbert. But, she reminded herself, Ms. Stacey had been quite delighted at the relationship in the first place.

"Come in!" Mrs. Stacey's voice said, somewhat muted by the door.

Anne sniffled a deep breath and turned the knob, entering the office of her beloved childhood teacher. She was still crying uncontrollably, and her hair had come out of its place, strands of it sticking to her wet cheeks.

"Anne, dearest, what is ever the matter?" Ms. Stacey asked in a concerned tone.

"Oh, Ms. Stacey," Anne cried, unable to say any more without breaking down completely.

Ms. Stacey immediately pulled Anne in for a hug, patting her on the back. "It's all right," she repeated over and over again, though she still clueless regarding what had caused Anne to be so upset.

After several moments, Anne pulled back from the embrace, dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief. "I'm sorry, Ms. Stacey," she sobbed. "I shouldn't be bringing my troubles into your office."

"Oh, don't be so utterly ridiculous," Ms. Stacey said with a gentle smile. "Would you like to tell me what is bothering you, Anne?"

"It's about...Gil..." Anne said.

"Dear me, is he all right?"

"_He's _perfectly fine. But it's _my_ heart that...that has been broken, Ms. Stacey," Anne weeped. "Because just a few minutes ago, in fact, two of my students told me that Gilbert doesn't care about me anymore," Anne weeped between breaths. "They said that he...he only went on a picnic with me today at lunch as a distraction..."

"To distract what?" Ms. Stacey asked.

"Me. To distract me from knowing that he is having a relationship with two Pringle girls!"

"Why, you can't be serious, Anne! Gilbert of all people! Are you sure that this is accurate information?"

"I didn't think it was possible either, Ms. Stacey. But the two girls he...he fancies...they knew about our plans for our picnic. And they only would have discovered that information through...Gilbert." Anne cried.

"Anne, don't believe for a minute that Gilbert isn't head-over-heels for you," Ms. Stacey insisted.

"He used to be, Ms. Stacey. But now, in a matter of moments, he has become more interested in other girls." Anne whimpered. "I just...I don't understand."

"Anne, listen to me," Ms. Stacey said, placing her hands on Anne's cheeks and raising her head to meet her gaze. "Gilbert has loved you for as long as I can remember. And that is quite a long time. He has never given up on you, Anne. Despite how stubborn you used to be, he kept trying to win your heart. Do you truly suspect that he would throw that all away? All of the effort he's put in over the years to get to this point?"

"I didn't think that he would, Ms. Stacey. But obviously, my thoughts have proven wrong," Anne said, chocking up again.

"Now listen to me, Anne. Don't take any of this to heart yet. Let me have a word with Gilbert when I have the chance, and I promise everything will be straightened out," Ms. Stacey said optimistically.

"I hope you're right, Ms. Stacey," Anne replied. "Though I cannot remain hopeful in this situation, as that would only make my heart susceptible to being broken again."

"Now how about you sit down and regain your composure? You don't want to be the hottest topic of the day for Pringle gossip now, do you?"

Anne smiled as she sat down, wiping her face.

"Oh, by the way, here is a new stack of slates for your classroom like you requested. I've been meaning to give these to you for several days now," Ms. Stacey admitted.

"Thank you," Anne said as Ms. Stacey handed her the stack.

Just then, there was another knock at Ms. Stacey's door.

"Who is it?" Ms. Stacey asked, hoping that it was not Katherine Brooke or another complaining Pringle.

"It's Gilbert," the knocker replied.

"Ms. Stacey, please do me a favor and do not let him in! He is a man of disgrace!" Anne muttered through clenched teeth.

"I think that we must let him in, Anne. Once we talk to him, we should be able to sort out this situation, once and for all," Ms. Stacey proclaimed. "Come in, Gilbert," she said loudly before Anne could get a word in edgewise.

"Hello, Ms. Stacey. I was just going to..." Gilbert stopped mid-sentence when he saw Anne, who appeared extremely distraught and saddened.

"Anne, are...are you okay?" Gilbert's voice was shaking with worry. He did not like to see Anne upset at all. He wanted to protect her from whatever had made her so miserable and cuddle her and tell her that everything would be okay.

If only Gilbert knew that she was angry at _him_.

"I am most definitely not okay!" Anne yelled in reply, closely clutching the pile of slates to her chest. "I loved you, Gil. But now, it's all been ruined! And I'll never forgive you for it. Don't ever expect me to speak to you again!"

"But Anne, darling...I don't know what..."

"Don't you try and talk to me! You are the most vindictive, malicious, and rancorous person I have ever known! I hate you!" Anne sobbed as she pulled a slate out from her pile with one hand and smacked it over Gilbert's head with as much force as she could muster.

"Oh, my head..." Gilbert yelled, wincing in pain as he clutched the side of his head.

"Gilbert, are you okay?" Ms. Stacey asked, running toward him. It was not like Gilbert to react to an injury unless something was truly wrong.

"Gilbert! What's the matter?" Anne yelled when he didn't respond. She stepped backward, shocked at what she had done to him.

"I'm...I'm all right," he said, stumbling toward the couch on the other side of the room.

"No, you're not all right," Ms. Stacey insisted. "You can hardly stand!"

"I'm fine..." he muttered as he lost consciousness and fell backward, hitting his skull on the brick fireplace behind him.

"Oh, my goodness!" Ms. Stacey screamed as she ran over toward him. A steady stream of blood that was dripping down the side of his head. "Anne, stay with Gilbert. I'm going to fetch the doctor. He's right across the street," she said urgently.

"But Ms. Stacey..."

"Anne, I demand that you stay with him. If anyone could make him feel better, it would be you!"

Anne cried as Ms. Stacey rushed out of the room, leaving her alone with Gilbert. She stood in shock as she thought about the situation. What had she done? She had only meant to punish him...not wound him...or worse...

She didn't even know if he would be okay. What if he didn't live? What if he didn't do anything to warrant such treatment in the first place? And would he ever love her after what she'd done? Could he ever forgive her after this?

Anne ran over to him and dabbed the side of his head with her handkerchief. He was losing a substantial amount of blood, and he looked to be in horrible pain. And she was the source of it.

"Gilbert, I'm so sorry..." she whispered, placing her head down on his chest, her tears dripping down his stomach. "So, so sorry..."

**A/N: I feel so badly that I'm doing this to poor Gilbert. He definitely doesn't deserve it. So now it's time for you to predict: What will happen to Anne and Gilbert's relationship? Will Gilbert forgive Anne? Will he fully recover from his injury? Predict and review!**


	15. Chapter 15

Anne waited outside of Gilbert's hospital room for the rest of the afternoon. As each moment passed, she became more anxious and worried. The doctors told her that she would be allowed to visit him once they were done performing certain tests. But how long would that actually take? She had already been waiting for several hours, and there was no update regarding Gilbert's condition.

Ms. Stacey frequently comforted Anne, who was afraid that Gilbert would never associate with her again.

"Ms. Stacey?" Anne asked, trying to hold back her tears, "I am beginning to think that Gilbert will never forgive me for what I've done."

"Anne, you are one of the brightest people I know. Now stop and really think for a moment. Do you believe that Gilbert is the type of person who would hold a grudge for the rest of his life? Especially considering that he cares about you more than anyone else in this whole entire world?"

"But you can't be sure," Anne said. "You can't be sure that he will forgive me or that he cares about me more than anyone else."

"If you truly believe that he does not care for you, take a look at this letter that the doctors found in his pocket just a few hours ago," Ms. Stacey said, holding out an envelope with 'Anne' written across the front, clearly in Gilbert's handwriting. "I am curious to know what it says, but I did not want to open it without your permission, of course."

Anne reached for the letter, opened it slowly, took a deep breath, and cleared her throat.

"My dearest Anne," she read,

"I was wondering if you would consider attending the Springtime Ball with me this weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed our picnic today, and..."

Anne paused mid-sentence and started blushing.

"And what?" Ms. Stacey asked, smiling profusely.

"Oh, Ms. Stacey, this is quite embarrassing for me to read aloud!" Anne said. She could not believe the audacity that Gilbert had to write such scandalous things!

"Oh, Anne, you can tell me anything," Ms. Stacey said encouragingly. "There is honestly no need for embarrassment!"

"Well, it says...

"I thoroughly enjoyed our picnic today, and just so you know, your kisses were sweeter than the chocolate cake."

"Oh, is Gilbert trying his hand at romantic poetry, now?" Ms. Stacey asked, noticing Anne's look of extreme mortification.

Anne cleared her throat and continued.

"You do not know how extremely happy I am now that you've realized we belong together. Ms. Stacey even told me yesterday that you have been talking about me nonstop, which really boosted my spirits.

"Ms. Stacey!" Anne joked, glaring at her teacher. "How dare you say such things to Gilbert?"

"Well, I have a confession to make," she began.

"Go on," Anne urged.

"Last night, Gilbert came into my office. He told me that you blurted out that you have strong feelings for him, and he was wondering if I thought that was true."

"What did you tell him?" Anne asked.

"Ah, well I told him that he is smart enough to know the right answer to that. The answer, of course, being that you do have strong feelings for him."

"I see," Anne said.

"Now, what else does the letter say?"

"I am going to pay Ms. Stacey another visit right now, in fact. I need her advice on something extremely important. I hope to see you again this evening...that is, if Ms. Brooke doesn't catch us!

With my deepest love and admiration,

Gilbert."

"Oh, Anne, he was coming to my office for 'advice on something extremely important'! Oh, now I am in suspense over what that must be!" Ms. Stacey exclaimed.

"He's probably forgotten all about it," Anne said forlornly.

That moment, a doctor walked out of Gilbert's room and approached Anne.

"Hello, I am Dr. Williams. Are you...Mrs. Blythe?" The man asked Anne as he glanced at his paperwork.

Anne's mouth dropped open at the doctor's statement. "I'm...I'm a friend of Mr. Blythe," Anne stated, "but I am not his wife." She was mortified at what the doctor said, which was made obvious by the rosy color of her cheeks. Where had the doctor gotten that information from?

"Sorry for the misinterpretation. I wrongly assumed so by the way you were...uh...behaving."

"Well, I am most definitely not," Anne said firmly, clearing her throat awkwardly.

"And who are you?" The doctor asked, directing the question at Ms. Stacey.

"I am...a former teacher of Gilbert's," Ms. Stacey said. "We are fairly close."

"Well, I would like to update you on his condition, seeing that you two are his only visitors at the moment."

"Yes, please do," Ms. Stacey said urgently.

"I am afraid that the news I am about to deliver is not what you hope to hear. It seems that Mr. Blythe is suffering from amnesia. The most vulnerable part of the skull has been impacted from his injury, and the chances that he will have a normal memory immediately after regaining consciousness are very slim."

"Wh...what do...what do you mean?" Anne stuttered as a lump grew in her throat.

"I'm sorry, miss. Quite frankly, the chances are slim that his memory will not have been impacted. However, there is the possibility that the injury caused him to lose memory from only shortly before the injury occurred."

"Will he ever...fully recover? Or will he be...impaired for life?" Tears were sliding down Anne's face now; she could no longer do anything to try and hold them back.

"We don't know the answer to that yet, miss. There is a chance that his brain will function normally, but there is also a possibility that his memory will be permanently injured. We will know more once he regains consciousness."

"I need to go in an see him," Anne sobbed, standing up. "I need to see him right now."

"I'm sorry, but you are not yet allowed to enter the operating room. We are still in the process of evaluating Mr. Blythe's condition. Since you are not a relative of Mr. Blythe, you are not allowed to be in the hospital room while he is undergoing any type of medical treatment," the doctor recited.

"Why, you can't be serious!" Ms. Stacey said. "Anne is extremely close to Gilbert! They are best friends!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't violate hospital policy. However, I can assure you that you can see Mr. Blythe during the visitor hours tomorrow."

"Excuse me, Doctor, but I want to see Gilbert now!" Anne persisted. "I am close enough to him to be considered his family. We grew up together!"

"I'm so sorry to inconvenience you, but it just can't be allowed."

"But I must see him! I have to see him! I insist!"

"Anne..." Ms. Stacey said calmly, placing a hand on her shoulder, "You will be able to see him in the morning. Doctor, when are the visiting hours tomorrow?"

"Nine o'clock in the morning until five o'clock in the evening."

"You can come over first thing, Anne."

"What about my classes?" Anne asked. "I can't just abandon them for the day."

"I'm sure that something can be arranged," Ms. Stacey encouraged. "And I know that your pupils would enjoy a day off, anyway," she said. "Now, everything's settled. Thank you for the update on Gilbert's condition, Doctor."

"You're quite welcome," Dr. Williams said as he reentered Gilbert's room.

"Now, Anne, it's quite late. You should get some rest," Ms. Stacey advised.

"But Gilbert's in there...and he needs me..."

"And he'll love to see you tomorrow morning, Anne. There's nothing you can do. There's no point in sleeping here in the hospital waiting room when you won't see him, anyway. And how would Marilla feel if she knew that you were spending your night in a hospital waiting room?"

"I guess you're right, Ms. Stacey. But I think that my tremendous regret and sorrow is too difficult to put into words right now. All I can say is that...I just feel like it is my responsibility to be with him."

"And you will be able to see him bright and early tomorrow morning. Now, I must return to my residence for the night. But remember, this, Anne: kindred spirits are always together at heart." Ms. Stacey placed her hand on Anne's shoulder reassuringly and smiled warmly as she departed for the evening.

"Kindred spirits may be together at heart," she sobbed when Ms. Stacey was out of earshot, "though what's the use if he can't remember that we were kindred spirits in the first place?"

Anne dreadfully trekked back to the boardinghouse, walking with her face buried in her hands. In the wake of the darkness, the unendurable desolateness, and the circumstantial bleakness, she found herself turning to the memories that had defined her. As she reminisced her childhood in Avonlea to relieve herself of her loneliness, everything seemed to circle back to her memories of Gilbert. Some vague, unascertainable emotion stirred within Anne in regards to her lust for him. The feeling, she decided, was notably different than how she felt among the other kindred spirits who had shaped her life- namely Matthew, Marilla, and Diana. It was a need that could never be fully satisfied until she was fully devoted to him and he to her. And it was just at this moment, as everything in the world appeared bleak and hopeless and inauspicious, that Anne recognized, embraced, and yearned for her love of him. In the midst of the fathomless shadow of the night, the never-ending depth of her worst nightmare, she realized what could have been, and what had since been lost. And with the sweetness of her revelation came the bitterness of the notion that Gilbert Blythe may never, ever again feel the same.

A/N: Sorry for the somewhat depressing and lengthy ending. I just felt that I needed to convey Anne's feelings with such description that would be characteristic of her poetic nature. I do have an idea for where I'm going with the next chapter (Hint: it involves a character who has not appeared in this story recently). Thanks to everyone who's reviewed! Keep them coming! :)


	16. Chapter 16

Clara Pringle sat in her parlor, sewing a tablecloth for the upcoming Springtime Ball.

"Are you almost done with your sewing, dear?" Cordelia asked her daughter as she walked in the door, returning home from visiting many of her Pringle relatives.

"Yes, mother," Clara cooed.

"Very good. Make sure to take it to your Aunt Harriet's the moment you finish."

"I will, mother."

"Oh! Speaking of Harriet, I stopped by her boardinghouse just a few moments ago to see catch up on gossip and such. You will not believe what she heard from Samantha Pringle!"

"I already know that Ida Pringle is engaged to a doctor form the States. That was yesterday's news, mama!"

"No...it's not that! Do you know the new school teacher at Kingsport Ladies College? Gilbert, I think?"

"I do know him."

"Well, he's supposed to be a dashing young man, considering that he was raised in the countryside of Prince Edward Island."

"I suppose," Clara sneered.

"Well," Cordelia continued, "he and Anne Shirley, that no-good red-headed schoolmarm, were spotted kissing by Kingsport Lake this afternoon! And quite fervently, at that!"

"How scandalous," Clara commented. Of course, she knew that Gilbert would do anything for that silly Anne Shirley, so she wasn't entirely surprised by the news.

"And guess what else?" Her mother continued with even more enthusiasm.

"What?"

"Harriet heard from Ms. Stacey that Anne Shirley hit Gilbert in the head with a slate! And now, he's in the hospital with amnesia, poor thing. To be the victim of her temper...how absolutely dreadful!"

"He's in the hospital here in Kingsport?" Clara asked, a plan formulating in her head.

"Yes, dear."

"And he can't seem to remember anything?"

"Nothing, I'm afraid."

"And visitors are allowed?"

"Well, Ms. Stacey just returned from the hospital a half an hour ago.

"Oh, mother, I just finished my tablecloth!" Clara exclaimed conveniently. "I think I will go take it to Aunt Harriet right now."

"Why Clara, it's after nine o'clock!"

"You told me to take it over to her the moment I finished! I promise I won't be long!"

"Please don't be. It's not proper for young ladies to be wandering the streets after dark. Back in my generation, you would hear of no such thing!"

"Yes, mother. I promise to be home soon!" And with that, Clara set out on her evil, conspicuous journey to claim Gilbert once-and-for-all.

**Author's Note: I am so happy that everyone seems to be enjoying the story thus far. Now, I have a quick question for all of my readers: How much longer should my story be? I don't necessarily have it planned out beyond the next chapter, and I'd like to know others' opinions on this matter. So, if you have any kind of preference, let me know! I'm also open to ideas for new stories, because once I finish Kingsport Kin, I'm sure that I will be anxious to start a new long-term project. Thank you for reading and for your reviews! They mean a lot to me!**


	17. Chapter 17

**~The End of Kingsport Kin, Part 1~**

The minute Anne returned home from the hospital, she immediately retreated to bed. She typically would journey into other worlds before rest: perhaps the realm of Dickens, or contrarily that of Dickinson, but the current night was particularly unnerving and atypical in nature. Anne felt that no book or poem would have the ability to act as an escape from her current predicament. Only sleep would offer such relief. Besides, she had successfully convinced herself that she was satisfactorily tired to crawl into bed and fall into the depths of slumber. And so that she did.

It did not take Anne a great deal of time to fall asleep given her exhausted state. However, she was unable to sleep soundly through the night, her imagination running wild with terrifying dreams of Gilbert hating her for eternity. She had only been asleep for one hour when she sat up in bed, her heart racing profusely. In her dream, Gilbert had been with another girl. And a very pretty girl, at that.

With a new air of determination, Anne leaped out of bed to embark upon a late-night journey to the hospital. She _had_ to see Gilbert, regardless of the doctors' commands. If only she had said that she was Gilbert's wife, she would have been allowed to see him.

As Clara walked down the main hallway of the hospital, she stopped a rather tired-looking doctor to receive directions on how to get to Gilbert's room. The particular doctor whom she had stopped looked unfamiliar to her; he was most likely not a Kingsport native and most certainly not a Pringle of any sort. Her plan would likely work- as long as it was played on unassuming people.

"Excuse me, doctor," Clara said, putting on an air panic, "I...I'm trying to find my husband's room. You see, I just arrived in...in this town, and...his condition is bleak, I'm afraid."

"What is your husband's name, ma'am?" the doctor sighed.

"Gilbert. Gilbert Blythe. And I'm Clara Pr...er, I mean...Blythe. You see, we just got married."

"I see," the doctor muttered. "I just left Mr. Blythe's room. I'll escort you to it, if you wish."

"Thank you, doctor," Clara replied as she took out her handkerchief, pretending to dab her eyes.

"Here he is...Room 7. But you cannot stay too long. Visiting hours are technically over, though you do have extended privileges, since you are his wife. You are aware that he is likely suffering from amnesia, correct?"

"Yes, I am aware. Is he conscious?"

"Not yet, though we are expecting him to regain consciousness fairly quickly, as a result of the medication he is on."

When the doctor left the room, Clara kneeled beside Gilbert's bed and stroked his forehead, brushing his hair out of his face. Her hand trailed down his face as she cupped both of his cheeks and planted a kiss on his nose delicately. As she did so, his body moved slightly, showing signs of regaining consciousness. "Anne?" Gilbert whispered, barely mustering the energy to whisper her name.

Anne bolted into Gilbert's room, not thinking clearly as a result of her exhaustion. She did not care if the doctor tried to kick her out of the hospital. She only cared about Gilbert. Anne might as well have been his wife, anyway; they were kindred spirits, after all. She needed to let Gilbert know that she loved him and would devote her entire life to him, or her mind would never be at peace.

But when Anne saw Clara nuzzled up at Gilbert's bedside, her hand caressing his face and her lips meeting his, her heart sunk into the depths of despair.

Anne was even more stunned at the words Gilbert uttered. "I love you..." he whispered latently to Clara at her touches.

"May I ask what you are doing here, Ms. _Shirley_?" Clara sneered obnoxiously, making no effort to leave Gilbert's side. "And in your pajamas, at that?"

Anne gasped as she realized what she was wearing. How many times would she be caught within Gilbert's sight with a nightgown on, and a diaphanous one at that? Probably never again, she concluded, at his present responses to Clara's fondling.

"I've come to see _my_ Gilbert," Anne replied with a hiss, trying her best not to break down and cry. "He is not yours, Clara. He doesn't know what he's saying; truly, he doesn't! Can you please be decent and just STOP!?"

"We are quite insistent now, aren't we, Ms. Shirley? Well, in case you cannot tell, he is _my_ Gilbert now. In fact, he just professed his love for me."

"Really? Well I didn't here it," Anne lied. "If he did indeed profess his love for you, make him do say again."

"Fine," Clara huffed as she leaned in and planted a lingering kiss on Gilbert's cheek.

"Mmm..." Gilbert moaned, jerking slightly. "Anne...marry me..."

Clara pulled back at the unexpected statement. She crossed her arms haughtily, inwardly cursing Gilbert all the while. If only Gilbert had left the 'Anne' part out of it, Clara could have had Gilbert for keeps. Hesitantly, she raised her head toward Anne to gage her reaction.

Anne Shirley's mouth was hanging open, her eyes wide with surprise. Not only did Gilbert remember her, but he loved her! She giggled at the opportunity to hear Gilbert's uncensored thoughts about marriage and romance, and at Clara's failed attempt to claim Gilbert once and for all.

"I'm sorry, Clara, but I think you have to leave. My _dearest, dearest_ Gilbert has made it quite obvious whom he wants to see. Besides, I've had plenty of experience with warding off Gilbert's suitors, all successfully, I might add," Anne laughed wholeheartedly.

"I'll go find myself a better man, then. A more decent man with money and wealth and proper pedigree! You know, my mother could fire you immediately for stealing my man," Clara sneered.

"You may do so, Clara. Tell your mother whatever lies you wish. But I assure you that none of your threats will make me change my mind about loving Gilbert."

Clara scrunched up her face at Anne, unable to come up with a clever response. She turned around with a huff and exited the room, unable to admit her failure, even to herself.

In the dim moonlight, Clara walked with determination, in fear that her mother was wondering where she was. She could hardly see in front of her, though she luckily knew the streets of Kingsport by heart. As she hustled down the sidewalk, Clara bumped into someone accidentally, causing the person to drop several boxes.

"I'm sorry," Clara said to the stranger as she reached down to pick up the packages. She squinted her eyes, seeing that she had bumped into a young women about her age with blonde hair and a snobby look about her.

"No need to apologize," the girl said as politely as such a disagreeable person could. "Are you a native here in Kingsport?"

"Yes, I'm Clara Pringle. The Pringles rule Kingsport, as you probably know."

"So I've heard. I'm Josie Pye. And the Pyes rule Prince Edward Island, where I'm from."

Prince Edward Island? Why, that was Gilbert's island, was it not? "Do you happen to know a Gilbert Blythe?" Clara asked.

"Ugh, Gilbert Blythe is the most arrogant boy on this side of Canada. I'm proud to say I outgrew him years ago."

Clara smirked. "I could not agree more. In fact, I just left him for good. I So what exactly are you doing here, Josie?"

"Well, I've heard of the fine catches here in Kingsport, so my father graciously paid for me to come here and find my match. I suppose there are far better men here than the likes of Gilbert Blythe. I'm heading back to the Pringle Hotel at this moment, but would you like to go husband-scouting with me tomorrow?"

"My father owns the Pringle Hotel. I live directly across from it, and I'll walk home with you. And oh, I'd love to go husband-scouting. I sense that we have the same exact taste in gentlemen."

And with that, a new, rather shallow friendship was born, and Gilbert Blythe never encountered another suitor again.

**Author's Note:**

**Surprise, surprise! I recently decided to pick up this story again, because I just couldn't leave Gilbert in such a state! I've been incredibly busy with schoolwork (never-ending!), and I've also some serious health issues going on, but I've decided to take some time to do some enjoyable things, such as writing fan fiction! This story will be coming to a close fairly soon; no more evil plot twists to keep Anne and Gilbert from being together! (Yay!) The next chapter will involve their engagement and early marriage (it will be different than what occurs in the books and the movies). There also will be another exciting, surprising moment for the couple (also a unique twist). I also may include a short epilogue documenting Anne and Gilbert's life one or two years subsequent to their marriage. The end of the story, I assure you, will be pure romance and fluff! **

**Also, when this story is over (mid-November is my plan), I will likely start on a new multi-chapter project (sometime around the beginning of December, most likely). I have a few ideas: maybe something involving Christmastime with Anne and Gilbert, or, as a reader suggested several months ago, a story in which Anne does not break the slate over Gilbert's head, and a friendship blooms from the very beginning. If you like either of those ideas or have a different idea in mind, let me know! I'm open to suggestions!**

**Thank you for reading, and as always, please review! **

**Cheers! ~MusicWriterGirl~**


End file.
